ADDRESSE 
ON 
WAR 


CHARLES  SUMNER 


i 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

Dr.    ERNEST   C.    MOORE 


ADDEESSES    ON   WAR 


BY 

CHARLES   SUMNER 


WITH   AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

EDWm   D.  MEAD 


PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  INTERNATIONAL  UNION 
GLNN   &   COMPANY,  BOSTON 

1904 


COPTRIOHT,    1871, 

By  CHARLES  SUMNER, 

AND  1882, 

Bt  FRANCIS  V.  BALCH,  Executor. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Introduction,  by  Edwin  D.  Mead    .         .         .         .  v 

The  True  Grandeur  of  Nations    ....  1 

The  War  System  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Nations  133 

The  Duel  between  France  and  Germany     .         .  241 


2150.90 


INTRODUCTION. 

Charles  Sumner  began  his  public  life  by  what 
he  himself  called  a  declaration  of  war  against  war. 
His  great  oration  in  Tremont  Temple  on  "  The  True 
Grandeur  of  Nations"  marked,  his  biographer  rightly 
observes,  the  most  important  epoch  in  Sumner's  life. 
"  Had  he  died  before  this  event,  his  memory  would 
have  been  only  a  tradition  with  the  few  early  friends 
who  survive  him.  The  4th  of  July,  1845,  gave  him 
a  national,  and  more  than  a  national,  fame."  Epoch- 
making  in  Sumner's  own  life,  we  think  it  may  be 
safely  said  that  no  oration  which  he  ever  gave  has 
greater  intrinsic  importance,  and  perhaps  no  other 
will  be  read  so  long.  Of  all  pleas  made  by  Ameri- 
can men  for  the  rule  of  peace  on  earth,  it  is  the 
noblest  and  the  most  comprehensive,  save  Sumner's 
own  later  address  on  "  The  War  System  of  Nations." 
There  is  almost  no  argument  against  war  which 
these  orations  and  their  successor  do  not  somehow 
make  use  of;  and  the  advocate  of  peace  in  all  the 
years  returns  to  them,  and  returns  again,  for  support 
and  inspiration.  The  bringing  together  in  a  single 
volume,  as  is  now  done  for  the  first  time,  of  all  of 
Sumner's  three  great  addresses  on  war  and  peace  is 
a  distinct  public  service ;  and  every  philanthropist 
and  every  true  philo- American  will  wish  the  volume 
the  widest  currency  and  influence. 

V 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

There  was  nothing  upon  which  Sumner  dwelt  with 
greater  emphasis  in  his  first  famous  oration  than 
upon  the  cost  and  waste  of  war  and  the  incalculable 
advantage  that  would  result  from  the  diversion  of 
these  misapplied  resources  to  purposes  of  education 
and  the  real  development  and  progress  of  society. 
Passing  from  the  fearful  cost  of  war  itself,  he  dis- 
cussed the  regular,  permanent  expense  of  the  war 
footing,  —  the  preparations  for  war  in  time  of  peace. 
His  survey  of  the  armies  and  navies  and  fortifica- 
tions of  Europe  is  interesting  to-day  chiefly  as  re- 
vealing how  startlingly  the  burden  has  increased  in 
the  fifty  years  between  then  and  now.  In  the  United 
States  he  found  that  the  average  annual  appropria- 
tion for  military  and  naval  purposes  was  eighty  per 
cent  of  the  total  annual  expenses  of  the  government. 
"  Yes,  eighty  cents  in  every  dollar  were  applied  in 
this  unproductive  manner.  The  remaining  twenty 
cents  sufficed  to  maintain  the  government  in  all  its 
branches,  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial,  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice,  our  relations  with  foreign 
nations,  the  post-office,  and  all  the  light-houses, 
which,  in  happy,  useful  contrast  with  the  forts,  shed 
their  cheerful  signals  over  the  rough  waves  beating 
upon  our  long  coast."  In  the  years  from  the  forma- 
tion of  our  government,  in  1789,  down  to  the  time 
when  Sumner  spoke,  almost  twelve  times  as  much 
was  sunk  under  tlie  sanction  of  the  national  ofovern- 
ment  in  mere  peaceful  preparatif)ns  for  Avar  as  was 
dedicated  l)y  the  government  during  the  same  period 
to  all  other  i)urposes  whatever.  Of  the  militar}'- 
expenses  of  tlie  United  States  from  that  time  to  this 
all  of  us  know  something. 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

But  "  the  passage  which  was  most  striking  at  the 
time,"  says  Sumner's  biographer,  "  according  to  the 
testimony  of  hearers  still  living,  was  the  one  where, 
treating  of  the  immense  waste  of  war  defences,  he 
compared  the  cost  of  the  Oldo,  a  ship-of-the-line 
lying  in  the  harbor,  and,  on  account  of  its  decora- 
tions, a  marked  spectacle  of  the  day,  with  that  of 
Harvard  College."  He  spoke  of  Harvard's  library, 
the  oldest  and  most  valuable  in  the  country,  its 
museums,  its  schools  of  law,  divinity,  and  medicine, 
its  body  of  professors  and  teachers,  man}^  of  them 
known  in  every  part  of  the  globe,  and  its  distin- 
guished president,  Josiah  Quincy,  who  had  rendered 
such  high  public  service  in  so  many  fields.  "  Such," 
he  said,  "  is  Harvard  University ;  and  it  appears," 
he  added,  "  from  the  last  report  of  the  treasurer, 
that  the  whole  available  property  of  the  University, 
the  various  accumulations  of  more  than  two  cen- 
turies of  generosity,  amounts  "  — 1845  was  still  the 
day  of  small  things  at  Harvard  —  "to  i;703,175." 

"  Change  the  scene,"  said  Sumner,  "  and  cast  your  eyes  upon 
another  object.  There  now  swings  idly  at  her  moorings  in  this 
harbor  a  ship-of-the-line,  the  Ohio,  carrying  ninety  guns,  finished 
as  late  as  1836  at  an  expense  of  $547,888,  repaired  only  two 
years  afterwards  for  $233,012,  with  an  armament  which  has 
cost  $53,915,  making  an  aggTegate  of  $834,845 "  — 1845  was 
still  the  day  of  small  things  in  battle-ships  —  "as  the  actual 
outlay  at  this  moment  for  that  single  ship,  more  than  $100,000 
beyond  all  the  available  wealth  of  the  richest  and  most  ancient 
seat  of  learning  in  the  land." 

He  continued  in  that  masterly  array  of  compara- 
tive statistics  which  is  well  known  and  which  the 
reader  will  study  in  the  following  pages.     He  did 


INTUOOUCTION. 


not  fail  to  urge  tlie  great  moral  arguments  against 
war ;  no  one  has  ever  presented  them,  not  only  in 
this  early  address,  but  in  later  ones,  more  sti'ongly. 
But  the  argument  that  stays  with  us  most  influ- 
entially  is  that  for  the  generous  constructive  use  of 
national  resources  as  the  means  of  making  destruc- 
tiveness  and  war  unnecessary  and  impossible.  In 
the  powerful  use  of  this  argument  Sumner  was  the 
great  forerunner  of  Jean  de  Bloch.  In  the  line  of 
Sumner's  thought  lies  the  hope  of  the  world ;  and 
those  who  think  as  Sumner  thought  should,  without 
recourse  to  generalities,  to  anything  remote  in  time 
or  place,  apply  that  principle  to  the  situation  through 
which  our  Anglo-Saxon  world  has  been  passing. 

We  have  spent  $300,000,000  in  the  war  with  Spain 
about  Cuba.  We  have  spent  more  than  that  in  the 
conquest  of  the  Philippines.  AVe  are  in  the  outer 
circles  of  the  maelstrom  of  a  policy  which  means 
larger  armies,  larger  navies,  costlier  forts,  and  more 
of  them,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  the  Old  World 
militarism  which  we  have  prided  ourselves  on  being 
free  from,  —  with  the  corresponding  burdens  of  taxa- 
tion, the  devotion  to  waste  and  destruction  of  the 
immense  resources  which  might  otherwise  go  to 
development  and  progress.  The  man  who,  seeing 
this,  has  no  forebodings,  is  not  a  student  of  history. 
Is  this  way  of  spending  money  a  wise  way?  Is  it 
protective,  is  it  constructive,  is  it  good  business,  is 
it  common  sense,  does  it  pave  a  good  road  into  the 
future,  is  it  the  economical  and  promising  way  to 
secure  the  results  we  claim  to  aim  at,  will  it  make 
us  a  truin-  and  safer  democracy,  and  will  it  help  the 
world  /     Was  Sunnier  riglit,  was  Longfellow  right, 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

or  were  they  not,  in  claiming  that,  if  half  the  wealth 
bestowed  on  camps,  given  to  maintain  armies  and 
navies,  were  given  to  redeem  the  human  mind,  to 
educate  the  human  race,  there  would  soon  be  no 
need  of  armies  and  navies  ? 

We  have  spent  $300,000,000  in  a  war  with  Spain. 
Have  we  spent  it  well  ?  Have  we  done  the  most 
that  could  be  done  with  ^^300,000,000  to  accomplish 
what  we  claimed  to  want  to  accomplish  ?  Our  object 
in  going  to  war  with  Spain  was  to  make  Cuba  free, 
to  make  it  a  better  place  to  live  in,  to  insure  it  better 
government,  and  make  its  people  comfortable  and 
happy.  Have  we  got  our  money's  worth  ?  Has  our 
way  of  spending  our  $300,000,000  been  best,  or 
would  Sumner's  way  have  been  best  ?  If  in  the 
midst  of  our  perplexities  half  a  dozen  years  ago,  the 
senator  who  sits  in  Sumner's  seat  had  addressed 
words  like  the  following  to  the  Senate  and  the 
nation,  would  they  have  been  foolish  or  fallacious 
words  ? 

'We  are  clearly  drifting  towards  a  war  with  Spain  in  behalf 
of  Cuba.  Unless  we  show  wisdom  greater  than  the  past  has 
shown,  we  shall  soon  be  in  the  midst  of  war.  That  war  will 
cost  us  $300,000,000.  Is  there  not  a  better  way  of  spending 
$300,000,000?  Is  there  not  a  better  way  of  achieving  what  we 
aim  at,  —  the  freedom,  good  government,  and  development  of 
Cuba?  I  propose  that  we  submit  to  Cuba  and  to  Spain  this 
offer  and  request :  Let  us  establish  at  Havana  a  university  as 
well  equipped  as  Harvard  University,  with  an  endowment  of 
$10,000,000,  free  to  every  young  man  and  woman  of  Cuba,  with 
the  best  professors  who  can  be  secured  from  America  and  Spain 
and  England  and  France  and  Germany.  Let  us  establish  at 
Santiago  and  Matanzas  and  Puerto  Principe  colleges  like  Am- 
herst and  Williams,  with  a  total  endowment  of  $10,000,000 ; 
and  in  each  of   the   twenty  largest   towns  a  high    school  or 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

academy,  at  a  cost  of  .f  10,000,000.  Let  us  devote  $-20,000,000 
— §11,000,000  a  year  for  twenty  years  —  to  the  thorough  planting 
in  Cuba  of  our  American  common-school  system;  $10,000,000 
to  the  promotion  of  a  system  of  free  public  libraries,  making 
books  as  accessible  and  common  in  each  Cuban  town  and 
village  as  in  Barnstable  or  Berkshire;  and  $6,000,000  for  the 
maintenance  in  each  of  the  six  provinces  of  a  newspaper  con- 
ducted by  the  best  men  who  can  be  enlisted  in  the  service, 
bringing  all  Cuban  men  and  women  into  touch  with  all  the 
world,  giving  them  those  things  which  will  feed  them,  and  not 
giving  them  those  things  which  would  poison  them.  Let  us 
build  a  Cuban  Central  Railroad  through  the  whole  length  of 
the  island,  from  ^lantua  to  INIaysi ;  and  let  us  devote  the  bal- 
ance of  $100,000,000  to  the  scientific  organization,  by  proper 
bureaus,  of  Cuban  agriculture,  industr}',  and  commerce.  Let 
there  be  a  truce  for  ten  years,  till  these  things  are  done  and 
begin  to  show  their  fruits ;  and  then  let  the  representatives 
of  the  United  States  and  Spain  meet  at  Havana  to  settle 
the  "  Cuban  question  "  as  it  then  exists.  This  seems  to  me 
worth  trying.  If  it  succeeds,  we  should  at  least  have  saved 
$200,000,000 ;  and  it  would  be,  I  think,  a  kind  of  success  more 
pregnant  with  good  for  Cuba  and  Spain  and  America  and 
humanity  than  the  success  which  we  may  be  celebrating  next 
year  or  the  year  after.  There  are  those  who  will  laugh  and 
scoff,  and  say  this  thought  is  all  chimerical  and  fallacious ;  but 
I  say  that  with  those  who  do  not  think  so  lies  the  hope  of  the 
world.  I  say  that  the  kingdom  of  God  can  come  in  this  world, 
that  peace  and  justice  and  fraternity  can  come  among  men, 
tliat  democracy  itself  has  a  safe  future,  only  as  some  elect 
people,  with  sublime  abandon,  in  a  great  opportunity,  does  this 
thing,  —  taking,  in  this  world  of  undeniable  and  conflicting 
risks,  the  heroic  risk,  the  risk  which  alone  has  in  it  hope  for 
the  world  and  relish  of  salvation. 

But,  it  will  be  urged,  this  is  to  make  the  nation  a 
missionary  ;  and  that  is  not  to  be  expected.  Unhap- 
pily it  is  not  to  be  expected ;  but  the  time  will  come 
when  uotliing  else  is  to  be  exjjected.      The  construe- 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

tive  way  instead  of  the  wasteful  way  will  obtain 
alike  in  national  and  international  policies,  —  and  in 
the  latter  for  the  sake  of  the  nation's  own  welfare. 
The  constructive  way  is  in  every  aspect  and  in  every 
field  the  profitable  way. 

With  vastly  greater  force  than  to  our  war  with 
Spain  does  this  argument  apply  to  our  war  in  the 
Philippines ;  and  1  do  not  here  discuss  the  aims  of 
our  government  or  the  politics  of  the  situation,  but 
merely  the  question  of  method.  What  would  the 
hundreds  of  millions  which  we  have  spent  there  not 
have  accomplished  if  it  had  been  applied,  lovingly 
and  sympathetically,  in  simple  cooperation  with  the 
leaders  of  the  Filipino  people,  to  purposes  of  construc- 
tion instead  of  destruction  ?  Compare  the  results 
of  the  few  millions  lately  spent  in  education  with  all 
that  war  has  done.  Yet  —  how  horrible  the  satire 
—  all  the  money  spent  for  schools  and  roads  and  all 
constructive  purposes  is  money  which  we  have  forced 
themselves  to  pay  out  of  their  own  scant  revenues ; 
we  have  been  generous  and  lavish  only  for  slaughter 
and  destruction. 

I  shall  not  push  this  consideration  into  the  recent 
war  in  South  Africa  and  ask  how  the  billion  dollars 
wasted  there  could  have  been  well  spent,  spent  so  as 
to  have  advanced  the  true  interests  of  England  and 
of  humanity.  The  American  instances  suffice.  The 
consideration  should  sink  deeply  into  the  hearts  of 
all  the  educated  youth  of  America  and  all  the  people 
of  America.  If  our  republic  is  to  be  true  to  itself, 
if  we  are  to  help  civilization  forward  and  not  back- 
ward, then  the  young  men  of  our  universities  and 
all  those  who  look  at  war  and  national  defence  and 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

national  grandeur  in  the  old  way  have  got  to  be 
born  again, — nothing  less  than  that, — baptized  with 
the  spirit  wherewith  Charles  Sumner  was  baptized, 
and  have  our  eyes  opened  to  see  that  his  way  is  the 
only  right  or  sensible  or  efficient  way,  and  that  now 
we  are  wasting  our  substance  and  defeating  our- 
selves. The  revolution  in  the  point  of  view  is  as 
radical  as  the  difference  between  Ptolemy  and  Co- 
pernicus ;  but,  when  we  go  through  it,  things  fall 
at  once  into  order,  we  hnd  ourselves  in  a  rational 
world  with  right  means  for  right  ends,  and  our  old 
notions  of  what  is  wise  and  prudent  and  necessary 
for  the  defence  and  upbuilding  and  influence  of  the 
nation  instantly  dissolve,  stamped  all  as  vicious  and 
fallacious.  Our  thoughts  on  what  it  is  that  makes  a 
nation  strong  need  almost  all  of  them  to  be  turned 
inside  out.  Our  economics  and  generosities  are  all 
Ptolemaic.  We  boast  of  public  and  private  munifi- 
cences in  education  and  philanthropy.  We  need  to 
understand  that  we  are  yet  in  the  kindergarten  of 
munificence  as  concerns  all  positive,  constructive, 
and  real  things.  It  would  sometimes  seem  as  if, 
were  the  devil  privileged  to  organize  the  world  so  as 
to  thwart  struggling  men  most  effectually,  wasting 
their  accumulations  and  cutting  forever  the  margin 
of  civilization,  he  would  choose  precisely  what  he 
now  sees,  —  the  dominance  of  false  political  ideals 
and  of  gross  unintelligence  as  to  how  men  and 
nations  should  spend  their  money.  If  an  eleventh 
commandment  were  to  be  added  to  the  decalogue, 
it  should  be  one  addressed  to  nations,  and  should 
be  :  Thou  shalt  not  waste  tliy  substance. 

Every  war  gives  new  life  to  that  old  notion  which 


INTRODUCTION. 


died  so  hard,  but  which  is  responsible  for  so  much 
mischief  in  the  world,  that  patriotism  is  somehow 
bound  up  with  war,  —  the  patriotic  man,  the  man 
who  fights  or  wants  to  fight  for  his  country.  Con- 
gress, "in  a  great  wave  of  patriotism,"  we  read, 
appropriates  fifty  million  dollars  for  gun-boats  and 
torpedoes.  No  "  wave  of  patriotism  "  is  reported 
when  Massachusetts  appropriates  a  million  dollars 
for  good  roads,  when  New  York  appropriates  five 
millions  for  new  school-houses,  or  Chicago  ten  mill- 
ions for  an  exposition,  when  Boston  builds  a  library, 
when  the  Adirondack  forests  are  secured,  when  the 
college  is  endowed,  and  when  good  Avages  are  paid 
in  the  factory.  There  may  be  exigencies  when  the 
appropriation  of  fifty  million  dollars  or  five  hundred 
millions  for  national  defence  or  for  national  offence 
is  the  duty  imposed  upon  the  patriot ;  but  the  man 
who  votes  for  guns  and  gun-boats  with  a  glow  and 
an  excitement  which  he  does  not  feel  when  he  has 
opportunity  to  help  on  the  great  interests  of  edu- 
cation, science,  art,  and  industry,  may  be  very  sure 
that  his  glow  is  not  the  honest  glow  of  patriotism, 
but  is  very  likely  the  excitement  of  the  tiger  and 
the  savage,  which  still  lives  on  in  good  society  and 
dies  so  hard  in  half-civilized  and  even  civilized  men. 
It  happens  every  day  that  a  council,  a  legislature, 
or  a  congress  will  buoyantly,  without  computation, 
without  protest,  and  without  debate,  vote  the  peo- 
ple's thousands  or  millions  of  money  for  some  great 
waste,  some  great  destruction  —  new  cruisers  and 
new  forts  —  when  some  poor  pittance  is  grudgingly 
doled  out  or  grudgingly  denied,  each  dollar  pinched 
and  challenged,   for  the    measure    of   philanthropy, 


XIV  INTRODUCTION, 

of  conservation,  of  construction,  of  education,  of 
relief,  of  encouragement  or  high  emprise,  whose 
generous  and  bold  advancement  would  do  so  much 
to  hasten  the  day  when  forts  and  cruisers  shall  be 
unnecessary  and  obsolete.  Society  is  zealous  and 
lavish  on  its  displays  and  its  defences,  its  dams 
and  sewers  and  police  and  armament,  and  blind  and 
niggardly  a  thousand  times  as  to  the  things  which 
affect  its  fountains  and  its  real  vitality,  the  interests 
of  the  discipline  and  the  construction  w^hich  make 
protection  needless. 

The  lifelong  position  of  Charles  Sumner  upon  the 
subject  of  armies  and  navies  and  forts  and  wars  is 
to  be  commended  to  the  educated  youth  of  Amer- 
ica at  this  time  as  a  position  peculiarly  worthy  of 
their  adoption,  imperatively  worthy  of  their  earnest 
thought.  Sumner  was  not  a  non-resistant,  not  a 
man  of  "peace  at  any  price."  We  know  how  warmly 
and  efficiently,  in  his  place  in  the  Senate,  he  sup- 
ported the  government  in  the  Civil  War ;  and  we 
know  how  otherwise  he  appealed  to  force  when  that 
appeal  was  necessary  and  just.  We  know  how  he 
believed  in  strong  government  and  hated  imbecile 
police,  how  he  spoke  of  "  the  sword  of  the  magis- 
trate "  in  the  very  record  of  his  services  for  peace. 
But  the  great  principles  of  his  "  True  Grandeur  of 
Nations  "  were  the  principles  of  his  whole  life,  from 
a  time  long  before  that  oration  to  the  last  hour, 
when  he  bequeathed  a  thousand  dollars  to  Harvard 
University  for  an  annual  prize  for  the  best  essay 
on  Universal  Peace.  I  do  not  remember  any  auto- 
biographical passage  in  his  writings  so  impressive 
as  that  in  which,   replying  to  unfriendly  criticism, 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

he  gives  an  account  of  his  devotion  to  the  peace 
movement. 

"My  name,"  he  wrote,  "is  connected  somewhat  with  two 
questions,  which  may  be  described  succinctly  as  those  of  peace 
and  slavery.  That  which  earliest  enlisted  me,  and  which  has 
always  occupied  much  of  my  thoughts,  is  the  peace  question. 
AVhen  scarcely  nine  years  old,  it  was  my  fortune  to  listen  to 
President  Quincy's  address  before  the  Peace  Society,  delivered 
in  the  Old  South  Church.  It  made  a  deep  and  lasting  impres- 
sion on  my  mind ;  and  though,  as  a  boy  and  youth,  I  surren- 
dered myself  to  the  illusions  of  battles  and  wars,  still,  as  I 
came  to  maturit}',  I  felt  too  keenly  their  wickedness  and  woe. 
A  lecture  which  I  heard  from  AVilliam  Ladd,  in  the  old  court- 
house at  Cambridge,  shortly  after  I  left  college,  confirmed 
these  impressions."  He  tells  how  he  expressed  his  ripened 
convictions  to  his  friends,  and  how,  going  to  Europe,  he  often 
dwelt  uj^on  them  there.  In  Paris,  when  M.  Victor  Foucher 
submitted  for  his  criticism  the  manuscript  of  his  treatise  upon 
the  law  of  nations,  Sumner,  observing  that  he  had  adopted, 
among  his  fundamental  principles,  that  war  was  recognized  as 
the  necessary  arbitrament  between  nations,  ventured  to  discuss 
this  dogma,  and,  while  admitting  that  it  was  accepted  by  every 
publicist  up  to  that  time,  suggested  to  him  to  be  the  first  to 
brand  it  as  unchristian  and  barbarous  and  to  declare  that  the 
institution  of  war,  defined  and  sanctioned  by  the  law  of  nations 
as  a  mode  of  determining  justice  between  them,  was  but  another 
form  of  the  ordeal  by  battle,  which  was  once  regarded  as  a 
proper  mode  of  determining  justice  between  individuals.  Re- 
turning to  Boston  after  his  two  yeai's  and  a  half  in  Europe,  he 
tells  of  the  little  meeting  of  the  American  Peace  Society  to 
which  he  found  his  way  in  the  very  month  of  his  arrival.  "  The 
Rev.  Henry  Ware  was  in  the  chair.  I  think  there  were  not 
more  than  twelve  persons  present.  We  met  in  a  small  room  ' 
under  the  Mai'lboro  Chapel.  On  motion  of  Dr.  Gannett,  I  was 
placed  on  the  executive  committee."  He  tells  of  his  humble 
efforts  for  the  cause  in  the  next  few  years ;  and  then  he  comes 
to  the  oration  on  the  4th  of  July,  1845.  "  The  position  taken 
by  me  on  this  occasion  has  drawn  upon  me  not  a  little  criticism, 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 

—  perhaps  I  might  use  a  stronger  expression.  Convinced  of 
its  intrinsic  propriety  and  importance,  I  have  been  drawn,  on 
subsequent  occasions,  by  an  inevitable  necessity,  to  sustain  and 
fortify  it.     I  hope  that  I  shall  always  be  willing  to  maintain  it." 

Universal  peace,  the  methods  by  which  war  may 
be  permanently  superseded,  —  these  were  ever  the 
burden  of  his  thought  and  study,  of  addresses  to 
the  public  and  letters  to  friends ;  and  ever  the  eco- 
nomic argument  is  at  the  front.  "  I  wish  our  coun- 
try would  cease  to  whet  its  tusks,"  he  writes  to 
Doctor  Howe  in  1843.  "  Tlie  appropriations  of  the 
navy  last  year  were  nine  million  dollars.  Imagine 
half  —  nay,  a  tithe  —  of  this  sum  given  annually  to 
objects  of  humanity,  education,  and  literature  !  I 
know  of  nothing  in  our  government  that  troubles 
me  more  than  this  thought."  To  his  brother  George 
in  1844 :  "  I  would  not  vote  a  dollar  for  any  engine 
of  war.  One  war-steamer  costs  more  than  all  the 
endowments  of  Harvard  College.  Nations  keep 
standing  armies  and  Paixhan  guns  —  sharpen  their 
tusks  —  that  they  may  be  prepared  for  war.  Far 
better  to  be  always  prepared  for  peace."  Again  : 
"  What  a  boon  to  France,  if  her  half  million  of  sol- 
diery were  devoted  to  the  building  of  railways  and 
other  internal  improvements,  instead  of  passing  the 
day  in  carrying  superfluous  muskets !  What  a  boon 
to  Paris,  if  the  immense  sums  absorbed  in  her  forti- 
fications were  devoted  to  institutions  of  benevolence! 
She  has  more  to  fear  from  the  poverty  and  wretch- 
edness of  her  people  than  from  any  foreign  foe." 
No  crime  was  to  him  so  great  as  that  of  the  country 
which  "  entered  into  war  for  tlie  sordid  purpose  of 
securing  a  few  more  acres  of  land."     No  letter  that 


INTRODUCTION.  XVli 

came  to  him  among  the  many  drawn  out  by  "  The 
True  Grandeur  of  Nations  "  was  more  welcome  thq,n 
that  from  Theodore  Parker,  —  his  first  letter  to 
Sumner,  the  beginning  of  their  friendship,  —  defend- 
ing him  from  the  attacks  of  "  men  of  low  morals, 
who  can  only  swear  by  their  party  and  live  only  in 
public  opinion,"  and  exclaiming:  "The  Church  and 
State  are  both  ready  to  engage  in  war,  however 
unjust,  if  a  little  territory  can  be  added  to  the 
national  domain  thereby.  The  great  maxims  of 
Christianity  —  the  very  words  of  Christ — are  almost 
wholly  forgotten."  Full  of  faith  in  the  republic, 
confident  in  the  influence  its  institutions  were  des- 
tined to  exert  over  the  ancient  establishments  of 
Europe,  he  prayed  "that  a  race  of  men  may  be 
reared  among  us  competent  to  understand  the  des- 
tinies of  the  country,  to  abjure  war,  and  to  give 
extension  and  influence  to  our  institutions  by  cul- 
tivating the  arts  of  peace,  by  honesty,  and  by  dig- 
nity of  life  and  character."  In  the  cause  of  peace 
lay  to  him  the  hope  of  the  world.  "  It  is  destined," 
he  said,  "  to  a  triumph  much  earlier  than  many 
imagine.  It  is  so  necessary  to  meet  the  financial 
embarrassments  of  Europe  and  the  humane  aspira- 
tions of  the  age,  that  it  must  succeed.  Let  it  be 
presented  carefully  and  clearly,  let  the  incalculable 
good  it  has  in  store  be  unfolded,  and  people  must 
feel  its  practicability.  ...  I  have  full  faith  in  a 
coming  era  of  humanity  ;  but  I  believe  it  is  to  be 
brought  about  by  removing  existing  evils,  by  edu- 
cation, and  especially  by  removing  the  great  evil 
and  expense  of  war  preparations  or  the  war  system. 
If  the  friends  of  progress  in  Europe  would  aim  at 


Xvill  INTRODUCTION. 

the  armies  and  navies,  direct  all  their  energies  at 
these  monster  evils,  all  else  that  can  reasonably  be 
desired  will  soon  follow.  AVhy  not  sound  the  idea 
in  the  ears  of  Europe  ?  "  It  was  to  his  brother,  then 
in  Europe,  that  he  wrote,  in  1849.  His  call  was 
heard,  fifty  years  afterward,  by  Jean  de  Bloch  and 
the  Czar  of  Russia. 

In  1849,  four  years  after  the  oration  on  "  The 
True  Grandeur  of  Nations,"  he  delivered  an  address 
on  "  Tlie  Abolition  of  the  War  System  in  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Nations,"  advocating  instead  of  the 
arbitrament  of  arms  a  Congress  of  Nations  with  a 
high  court  of  judicature  or  arbitration.  In  many 
respects  this  address  is  stronger  than  the  earlier  one. 
No  more  powerful  arraignment  of  the  war  system 
exists  in  brief  compass.  Its  survey  of  the  history 
of  the  peace  movement  shows  the  breadth  of  Sum- 
ner's knowledge ;  and  its  use  of  statistics  in  the 
economic  argument  is  masterly  and  most  impressive. 

The  next  j^'ear,  1850,  as  Chairman  of  the  United 
States  Committee  of  the  International  Peace  Con- 
gress, which  had  held  its  sessions  in  Paris  in  1849 
under  the  presidency  of  Victor  Hugo,  Sumner  issued 
an  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
with  a  view  to  securing  a  proper  representation  at 
the  next  Congress,  at  Frankfort.  This  address  was 
so  important  an  expression  of  Sumner's  views  that 
it  is  here  given  entire. 

"  The  month  of  August  last  witnessed  at  Paris  a  Congress 
or  Convention  of  persons  from  various  countries,  to  consider 
what  could  l)e  done  to  promote  the  sacred  cause  of  Universal 
Peace.  France,  Germany,  Belgium,  England,  and  the  United 
States  were  represented  by  large  numbers  of  men  eminent  in 
business,  politics,  literature,  religion,  and  philanthropy.     The 


INTRODUCTION.  XIX 

Catholic  Archbishop  of  Paris  and  the  eloquent  Protestant 
preacher,  M.  Athanase  Coquerel ;  Michel  Chevalier,  Horace 
Say,  and  Frederic  Bastiat,  distinguished  political  economists ; 
fimile  de  Girardin,  the  most  important  political  editor  of 
France ;  Victor  Hugo,  illustrious  in  literature ;  Lamartine, 
whose  glory  it  is  to  have  turned  the  recent  French  Revolution, 
at  its  beginning,  into  the  path  of  peace ;  and  Richard  Cobden, 
the  world-renowned  British  statesman,  the  unapproached  model 
of  an  earnest,  humane,  and  practical  reformer,  —  all  these  gave 
to  this  august  assembly  the  sanction  of  their  presence  or  appro- 
bation. Victor  Hugo,  on  taking  the  chair  as  President,  in  an 
address  of  persuasive  eloquence,  shed  upon  the  occasion  the 
illumination  of  his  genius ;  while  Mr.  Cobden,  participating 
in  all  the  proceedings,  impressed  upon  them  his  characteristic 
common  sense. 

"  The  Congress  adopted,  with  entire  unanimity,  a  series  of 
resolutions,  asserting  the  duty  of  governments  to  submit  all 
differences  between  them  to  Arbitration,  and  to  respect  the 
decisions  of  the  Arbitrators ;  also  asserting  the  necessity  of  a 
general  and  simultaneous  disarming,  not  only  as  a  means  of 
reducing  the  expenditure  absorbed  by  armies  and  navies,  but 
also  of  removing  a  permanent  cause  of  disquietude  and  irrita- 
tion. The  Congress  condemned  all  loans  and  taxes  for  wars  of 
ambition  or  conquest.  It  earnestly  recommended  the  friends 
of  Peace  to  prepare  public  opinion,  in  their  respective  countries, 
for  the  formation  of  a  Congress  of  Nations,  to  revise  the  exist- 
ing International  Law  and  to  constitute  a  High  Tribunal  for 
the  decision  of  controversies  among  nations.  In  support  of 
these  objects,  the  Congress  solemnly  invoked  the  representa- 
tives of  the  press,  so  potent  to  diifuse  truth,  and  also  all  minis- 
ters of  religion,  whose  holy  office  it  is  to  encourage  good-will 
among  men. 

"  The  work  thus  begun  has  been  continued  since.  In  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States  large  public  meetings  have  wel- 
comed the  returning  delegates.  Men  have  been  touched  by 
the  grandeur  of  the  cause.  Not  in  the  aspirations  of  religion 
and  benevolence  only,  but  in  the  general  heart  and  mind,  has 
it  found  reception,  filling  all  who  embrace  it  with  new  confi- 
dence in  the  triumph  of  Christian  truth. 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

"  Another  Congress  or  Convention  has  been  called  to  meet 
at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  in  the  month  of  August  next,  to  do 
■what  is  possible,  by  mutual  counsels  and  encouragement,  to 
influence  public  opinion,  and  to  advance  still  further  the  cause 
which  has  been  so  well  commended  by  the  Congress  at  Paris. 
To  promote  the  objects  of  this  Congress  generally,  and  par- 
ticularly to  secure  the  attendance  of  a  delegation  from  the 
United  States,  in  number  and  character  not  unworthy  of  the 
occasion,  a  Committee,  representing  friends  of  Peace  throughout 
the  countrj'',  various  in  opinion,  has  been  appointed,  under  the 
name  of  "  Peace  Congress  Committee  for  the  United  States." 
This  Committee  now  appeal  to  thek  fellow-citizens  for  coop- 
eration in  this  work.  The  Committee  hope,  in  the  first  place, 
to  interest  our  Government  at  Washington  in  the  objects  con- 
templated by  the  proposed  Congress.  As  this  can  be  done 
only  through  the  prompting  of  the  people,  they  recommend 
petitions  like  the  following  :  — 

"Petitiox  for  Peace 

"  To  the  Honorable  Senate  (or  H.  of  R.)  of  the  United  States. 
"  The  undersigned,  inhabitants  (or  citizens,  or  legal  voters) 

of ,  in  the  State  of  ,  deploring  the  manifold  evils  of 

War,  and  believing  it  possible  to  supersede  its  alleged  necessity, 
as  an  Arbiter  of  Justice  among  Nations,  by  the  timely  adoption 
of  wise  and  feasible  substitutes,  respectfully  request  your  hon- 
orable body  to  take  such  action  as  you  may  deem  best  in  favor 
of  Stipulated  Arbitration,  or  a  Congress  of  Nations,  for  the 
accomplishment  of  this  most  desirable  end. 

"  As  the  number  of  delegates  to  the  proposed  Congress  is 
not  limited,  the  Committee  hope  to  see  States,  Congressional 
Districts,  Towns,  and  other  bodies  represented.  Every  dele- 
gate will  be  a  link  between  the  community,  large  or  small, 
from  which  he  comes  and  the  cause  of  Universal  Peace.  The 
Committee  recommend  a  State  Convention  in  each  State  to 
choose  a  State  Committee,  and  also  two  delegates  at  large  from 
the  State ;  also  a  Convention  in  each  Congressional  District  to 
choose  a  delegate;  also  public  meetings  in  towns  and  other 
smaller  localities  to  explain  the  objects  of  the  Congress  and  to 


INTRODUCTION.  XXI 

choose  local  delegates.  The  Committee  also  recommend  to  the 
religious  and  literary  bodies  of  the  country,  as  churches  and 
colleges,  to  send  delegates  to  the  Congress. 

"In  making  this  appeal,  the  Committee  desire  to  impress 
upon  their  fellow-citizens  the  practical  character  of  the  present 
movement.  Instead  of  the  custom  or  institution  of  War,  now 
recognized  by  International  Law,  as  the  Arbiter  of  Justice 
between  Nations,  they  propose,  by  the  consent  of  nations,  to 
substitute  a  System  of  Arbitration,  or  a  permanent  Congress 
of  Nations.  AVith  this  change  will  necessarily  follow  a  general 
disarming  down  to  that  degree  of  force  required  for  internal 
police.  The  barbarous  and  incongruous  War  System,  which 
now  encases  our  Christian  civilization  as  with  a  cumbrous  coat 
of  mail,  will  be  destroyed.  The  enormous  means  thus  released 
from  destructive  industry  and  purposes  of  hate  will  be  appro- 
priated to  productive  industry  and  purposes  of  beneficence. 
To  help  this  consummation  who  will  not  labor  ?  The  people 
in  every  part  of  the  country,  East  and  West,  North  and  South, 
of  all  political  parties  and  all  religious  sects,  are  now  invited 
to  join  in  this  endeavor.  So  doing,  while  confident  of  the 
blessing  of  God,  they  will  become  fellow-laborers  of  wise  and 
good  men  in  other  lands,  and  will  secure  to  themselves  the 
inexpressible  satisfaction  of  aiding  the  advent  of  that  happy 
day  when  Peace  shall  be  organized  among  nations." 

This  appeal,  in  its  general  features,  our  people 
should  regard  as  addressed  to  them  to-day.  There 
has  been  a  distinct  falling-off  in  American  attention 
to  the  International  Peace  Congresses.  At  the  Paris 
Congress  of  1849,  of  which  Sumner  speaks,  a  score  of 
American  delegates  were  in  attendance.  At  recent 
Congresses  there  have  not  been  half  so  many.  Our 
churches,  universities,  and  scientific  and  political 
societies  should  take  this  matter  up  with  energy  and 
see  to  it  that  our  representation  and  influence  in  the 
coming  Congresses  be  strong  and  worthy.  There  is 
much  talk  nowadays   about  America  as  a  "  world 


XXll  INTRODUCTION. 

power."  There  is  no  place  where  she  can  make 
herself  a  greater  power  for  the  real  welfare  of  the 
world  than  in  these  International  Peace  Congresses. 
In  1870  Sumner  was  still  enforcing  the  truths 
which  he  enforced  in  1845.  He  gave  in  many- 
places,  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  a  lecture  on  the 
war  between  France  and  Prussia,  the  third  address 
printed  in  the  present  volume,  pointing  as  its  moral 
that  the  war  sj'stem  should  be  discarded  and  the 
nations  should  disarm  themselves.  In  1872  he  in- 
troduced in  the  Senate  the  following  resolutions 
concerning  International  Arbitration ;  and  he  pre- 
sented them  once  more  a  few  days  before  his  death : 

"  Whereas  by  International  Law  and  existing  custom  War 
is  recognized  as  a  form  of  Trial  for  the  determination  of 
differences  between  nations;  and 

"  Whereas  for  generations  good  men  have  protested  against 
the  irrational  character  of  this  arbitrament,  where  foi'ce  instead 
of  justice  prevails,  and  have  anxiously  sought  for  a  substitute 
in  the  nature  of  a  judicial  tribunal,  all  of  which  was  expressed 
by  Franklin  in  his  exclamation,  '  When  will  mankind  be  con- 
vinced that  all  wars  are  follies,  very  expensive  and  very  mis- 
chievous, and  agree  to  settle  their  differences  by  Arbitration?' 
and 

"Whereas  war  once  prevailed  in  the  determination  of  differ- 
ences between  individuals,  between  cities,  between  counties, 
and  between  provinces,  being  recognized  in  all  these  cases  as 
the  arbiter  of  justice,  but  at  last  yielded  to  a  judicial  tribunal, 
and  now,  in  the  progress  of  civilization,  the  time  has  come  for 
the  extension  of  this  humane  principle  to  nations,  so  that  their 
differences  may  be  taken  from  the  arbitrament  of  war,  and, 
in  conformity  with  these  examples,  submitted  to  a  judicial 
tribunal ;  and 

"Whereas  Arbitration  has  been  formally  recognized  as  a 
substitute  for  war  in  tlie  detf-rmination  of  differences  between 
nations,   being   especially   recommended   by  the    Congress  of 


INTRODUCTION.  XXlll 

Paris,  where  were  assembled  the  representatives  of  England, 
France,  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria,  Sardinia,  and  Turkey,  and 
afterward  adopted  by  the  United  States  in  formal  treaty  with 
Great  Britain  for  the  determination  of  differences  arising  from 
depredations  of  British  cruisers,  and  also  from  opposing  claims 
with  regard  to  the  San  Juan  boundary ;  and 

"  Whereas  it  becomes  important  to  consider  and  settle  the 
true  character  of  this  beneficent  tribunal,  thus  commended  and 
adopted,  so  that  its  authority  and  completeness  as  a  substitute 
for  war  may  not  be  impaired,  but  strengthened  and  upheld,  to 
the  end  that  civilization  may  be  advanced  and  war  be  limited 
in  its  sphere  :  Therefore, 

"  1.  Resolved,  That  in  the  determination  of  international 
differences  Arbitration  should  become  a  substitute  for  war  in 
reality  as  in  name,  and  therefore  coextensive  with  war  in  juris- 
diction, so  that  any  question  or  grievance  which  might  be  the 
occasion  of  war  or  of  misunderstanding  between  nations  should 
be  considered  by  this  tribunal. 

"2.  Resolved,  That  any  withdrawal  from  a  treaty  recogniz- 
ing Arbitration,  or  any  refusal  to  abide  the  judgment  of  the 
accepted  tribunal,  or  any  interposition  of  technicalities  to 
limit  the  proceedings,  is  to  this  extent  a  disparagement  of  the 
tribunal  as  a  substitute  for  war,  and  therefore  hostile  to 
civilization. 

"  3.  Resolved,  That  the  United  States,  having  at  heart  the 
cause  of  peace  everywhere,  and  hoping  to  help  its  permanent 
establishment  between  nations,  hereby  recommend  the  adop- 
tion of  Arbitration  as  a  just  and  practical  method  for  the  deter- 
mination of  international  differences,  to  be  maintained  sincerely 
and  in  good  faith,  so  that  war  may  cease  to  be  regarded  as  a 
proper  form  of  trial  between  nations." 

In  1873  Sumner  was  invited  to  be  one  of  the 
speakers  at  the  public  meeting  held  at  Steinway 
Hall,  New  York,  to  stimulate  a  war  spirit  against 
Spain  at  the  time  of  the  seizure  of  the  Virginius,  — - 
a  meeting  at  which  Mr.  Evarts  presided,  and  made 
an  inflammatory  speech ;   but  he  declined,  and  in- 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

Stead  sent  a  letter  of  a  spirit  directly  opposite  to 
tliat  of  the  meeting,  in  which  he  insisted  on  waiting 
for  evidence  and  on  considerate  treatment  of  the 
Spanish  republic,  and  discountenanced  the  bellige- 
rent preparations  then  under  way  in  our  navy  yards, 
wliieli  involved  burdensome  expenditure  and  encour- 
aged an  unhealthy  war  fever.  In  1873,  also,  in  the 
last  summer  of  his  life,  he  sent  a  letter  of  congratu- 
lation to  Henry  Richard,  who  had  succeeded  in 
carrying  through  the  House  of  Commons  a  motion 
in  favor  of  international  arbitration.  "  It  marks  an 
epoch  in  a  great  cause.  There  is  no  question  so 
supremely  practical ;  for  it  concerns  not  merely  one 
nation,  but  every  nation,  and  even  its  discussion 
promises  to  diminish  the  terrible  chances  of  war. 
Its  triumph  would  be  the  greatest  reform  of  his- 
tory." At  the  same  time  he  wrote  to  his  English 
friend,  Robert  Ingham  :  — 

I  have  been  cheered  by  the  vote  of  the  House  of  Commons 
on  Mr.  Richard's  motion.  ...  It  cannot  fail  to  exert  a  pro- 
digious influence.  I  know  no  reform  which  promises  such 
universal  good  as  the  release  of  any  considerable  portion  of 
present  war  expenditures  or  expenditure  on  armaments,  so  that 
they  can  be  applied  to  purposes  of  civilization.  It  is  absurd  to 
call  this  Utopian.  .  .  .  Here  is  an  open  and  incessant  waste. 
Why  not  stop  it?  Here  is  something  which  keeps  humau 
thoughts  on  bloodshed,  and  rears  men  to  slay  each  other.  Why 
not  turn  their  thoughts  to  things  which  contribute  to  humaii 
happiness?  Mr.  Ricliard  has  done  a  great  work,  and  so  has 
the  House  of  Commons.  .  .  .  Such  a  presentation  of  tlie  case 
must  have  an  effect  on  the  continent  as  well  as  in  England, 
teaching  reason.  I  shall  not  live  to  see  the  great  cause  tri- 
umph. I  often  wish  I  had  been  born  a  few  years  later,  and 
one  reason  is  because  I  long  to  witness  the  harmony  of  nations, 
which  I  am  sure  is  near.  When  an  evil  so  great  is  recognized 
and  discussed,  the  remedy  nmst  be  at  hand. 


IXTRODUCTION.  XXV 

But  it  was  to  Harvard  University  tliat  Charles 
Sumner  addressed  his  first  striking  message  and  his 
hist,  in  behalf  of  the  rule  of  peace.  The  first  mes- 
sage was  through  Henry  Ware.  Mr.  Ware,  a  gradu- 
ate of  Harvard  of  the  Class  of  1843,  writes :  — 

I  went  with  Professor  Felton  one  day,  just  after  our  Com- 
mencement parts  had  been  assigned,  into  Sumner's  office ;  and 
he,  kindly  asking  what  I  had  got,  and  being  told  that  I  had  to 
do  a  Latin  oration,  asked  me  what  subject  I  had  chosen.  I 
replied  that  I  had  not  yet  found  a  text  to  my  mind.  "  Then," 
said  he,  "I  will  give  you  one,  —  De  imperio  pads:  talk  about 
that."     And,  says  ]\Ir.  Ware,  I  did. 

His  last  message  was  through  his  will,  the  most 
memorable  provision  of  which  was  as  follows  :  — 

I  bequeath  to  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  College 
one  thousand  dollars  in  trust,  for  an  annual  prize  for  the  best 
dissertation  by  any  student  of  the  College,  or  any  of  its  schools, 
undergraduate  or  graduate,  on  Universal  Peace  and  the  methods 
by  which  war  may  be  permanently  superseded.  I  do  this  in 
the  hope  of  drawing  the  attention  of  students  to  the  practica- 
bility of  organizing  peace  among  nations,  which  I  sincerely 
believe  may  be  done.  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  same  modes  of 
decision  which  now  prevail  between  individuals,  between  towns, 
and  between  smaller  communities,  may  be  extended  to  nations. 

Who  can  doubt  that  more  and  more,  as  days  go 
on,  the  attention  of  the  students  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity will  be  drawn  to  Sumner's  last  solemn  call 
and  charge,  —  that  this  "  most  ancient,  most  inter- 
esting, and  most  important  seat  of  learning  in  the 
land,"  to  which  in  the  sweep  of  his  great  oration  he 
could  not  allude  without  pausing  to  pay  his  tribute 
of  filial  affection,  will  more  and  more  become  a 
centre  where  educated  and  aspiring  youth,  with 
their  hearts  kindled  by  Sumner's  gospel  and  with 
great  visions  of  a  better  future,  will  provoke  each 


XXvi  INTRODUCTION. 

other  to  high  argument,  and  in  times  of  war  prepare 
for  peace  ?  Upon  each  student's  desk  shall  lie,  as  a 
book  of  each  student's  Bible,  the  great  orations  of 
the  greatest  son  of  Harvard  who  in  the  memory  of 
men  now  living  has  gone  forth  from  Harvard's  halls 
into  the  councils  of  the  nation.  And  no  page  will 
be  pondered  more  than  that  which  sets  fortli  how, 
if  we  would  transfer  to  the  offices  of  education  and 
development  the  millions  now  appropriated  so  lav- 
ishly for  destruction  and  defence,  the  need  of  de- 
struction and  defence  would  quickly  cease. 

With  two  causes  the  name  of  the  great  Harvard 
senator  is  identified,  —  the  cause  of  freedom  and  the 
cause  of  peace.  From  the  wall  of  the  memorial  hall 
which  Harvard  built  to  commemorate  the  services 
of  her  sons  in  the  cause  of  freedom,  Sumner's  face 
looks  down  upon  the  hundreds  of  students  gathering 
daily  in  that  most  holy  place,  and  upon  the  hun- 
dreds of  alumni  who,  "  in  the  memories  of  a  youth 
nurtured  in  her  classic  retreats,"  come  up  to  the 
ancient  University  as  each  Commencement  week 
comes  round.  As  that  face  looks  down  on  them  in 
the  years  to  come,  may  it  not  speak  chiefly  to  them 
of  the  past,  of  the  victory  of  the  cause  of  freedom, 
whose  fruits  we  enjoy  to-day,  but  of  the  future,  the 
triumph,  which  he  so  longed  to  live  to  see  and  which 
the  educated  youth  of  America  can  do  so  much  to 
hasten,  of  the  cause  of  universal  peace !  Ever  and 
ever  may  Harvard  consider  wherein  the  true  gran- 
deur of  nations  lies,  and  ever  and  ever  hear  the  first 
and  last  message  of  her  great  statesman,  giving  a 
new  burden  and  new  power  to  her  great  singers 
gospel :  — 


INTRODUCTION.  XXVIl 

"  Were  half  the  power  that  fills  the  world  with  terror, 
Were  half  the  wealth  bestowed  on  camps  and  courts, 
Given  to  redeem  the  human  mind  from  error, 
There  were  no  need  of  arsenals  or  forts." 

May  the  message  of  Sumner  to  Harvard  be  heard 
equally  by  every  university  and  every  school  in  the 
broad  land  !  for  it  is  in  the  educated  youth  of  the 
country  that  the  hope  of  the  republic  lies.  In  this 
day  of  generous  benefactions,  it  would  be  well  if 
some  rich  man  who  loves  his  country  and  mankind 
would  endow  every  college  in  America  as  Sumner 
endowed  Harvard,  and  decree  that  the  annual  prizes 
thus  provided  everywhere  should  be  called  the  Sum- 
ner prizes.  But  the  thing  of  importance  is  that  all 
our  people,  young  and  old,  should  ponder  ever  and 
ever  the  great  prophet's  words,  and  consecrate  them- 
selves ever  anew  to  the  high  duty  of  making  the 
republic  the  greatest  of  world  powers  in  the  work 
of  their  fulfilment. 

EDWIN   D.  MEAD. 

Boston,  1902. 


THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 


An  Oration  before  the  Authorities  of  the  City 
OF  Boston,  July  4,  1845. 


0,  yet  a  nobler  task  awaits  thy  hand, 

(For  what  can  war  but  endless  war  still  breed?) 

Till  truth  and  right  from  violence  be  freed. 

Milton,  Sonnet  to  Fairfax. 


Pax  optima  remm 
Quas  homini  novisse  datum  est;  pax  una  triumphis 
Innumeris  potior;  pax  custodire  salutem 
Et  cives  sequare  potens. 

SiLius  Italicus,  Puttica,  Lib.  XI.  vv.  592  -  595. 

Sed  majoris  est  gloriae  ipsa  bella  verho  orn'dere  quam  homines  ferro, 
et  acquirere  vel  obtinere  pacem  pace,  non  bcUo. — Augustini  Epislo/a 
CCLXii.,  ad  Darium  Comitem. 

Certainly,  if  all  who  look  upon  themselves  as  men,  not  so  much  from 
the  shape  of  their  bodies  as  because  they  are  endowed  with  reason,  would 
listen  awhile  unto  Christ's  wholesome  and  peaceable  decrees,  and  not, 
puffed  up  with  arrogance  and  conceit,  rather  believe  their  own  o])inions 
than  his  admonitions,  the  whole  world  long  ago  (turning  the  use  of 
iron  into  milder  works)  should  have  lived  in  most  quiet  tranquillity,  and 
have  met  together  in  a  firm  and  indissoluble  league  of  most  safe  con- 
cord.—  Arnobius  Afer,  Adoersus  Gentes,  Lib.  I.  c.  6. 

And  so  for  the  first  time  [three  hundred  years  after  the  Christian  era] 
the  meek  and  peaceful  Jesus  became  a  God  of  Battle,  and  the  cross,  the 
holy  sign  of  Christian  redemption,  a  banner  of  bloody  strife.  This  ir- 
reconcilable incongruity  between  the  symbol  of  universal  peace  and  the 
horrors  of  war,  in  my  judgment,  is  conclusive  against  the  miraculous 
or  supernatural  character  of  the  transaction  [the  vision  of  Constantine). 

—  I  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find  that  Mosheim  concurred  in  these 
sentiments,  for  which  I  will  readily  encounter  the  charge  of  Quakerism. 

—  Mi  LMAN,  ^/story  of  Christ  ia  nit  I/,  Book  III.  chap.  1. 

When  you  see  fighting,  be  peaceable ;  for  a  peaceable  disposition  shuts 
the  door  of  contention.  Oppose  kindness  to  perverseness ;  the  sharp 
sword  will  not  cut  soft  silk.  By  using  sweet  words  and  gentleness  you 
may  lead  an  elephant  with  a  hair.  —  Saadi,  The  Gulistan,  translated  by 
Francis  Glad\vin,  Chap.  III.  Tale  28. 

Si  Ton  vous  disait  que  tons  les  chats  d'un  grand  pays  se  sont  assem- 
bles par  milliers  dans  une  plaine,  et  qu'apres  avoir  miaule'  tout  leur 
saoul,  ils  se  sont  jetes  avec  fureur  les  uns  sur  les  autres,  et  ont  joue  en- 
semble de  la  dent  et  de  la  griffe,  que  de  cette  melee  il  est  demeure'  de 
part  et  d'autre  neuf  a  dix  mille  chats  sur  la  place,  qui  ont  infecte  I'air 
a  dix  lieues  de  la  par  leur  puanteur,  ne  diriez-vous  pas,  "  Voili  le  plus 
abominable  sabbat  dont  on  ait  jamais  oui  parler  "  ?  Et  si  les  loups 
en  faisaient  de  meme,  quels  hurlements  !  quelle  boucherie  !  Et  si  les  uns 
ou  les  autres  vous  disaient  qii'ils  aiment  la  gloire,  .  .  .  .  ne  ririez-vous 
pas  de  tout  votre  cceur  de  I'inge'nuite  de  ces  pauvres  betes? — La 
BRUYfeRE,  Les  Caracteres  :  Des  Jugements. 


He  was  disposed  to  dissent  from  the  maxim,  which  had  of  late  years 
received  very  general  assent,  that  the  best  security  for  the  continuance 
of  peace  was  to  be  pre])ared  for  war.  That  was  a  maxim  which  might 
have  been  applied  to  the  nations  of  antiquity,  and  to  society  in  a  com- 
paratively barbarous  and  uncivilized  state Men,  when  they  adopted 

such  a  maxim,  and  made  large  preparations  in  time  of  peace  that  would 
be  sufficient  in  time  of  war,  were  apt  to  be  influenced  by  the  desire  to 
put  their  efficiency  to  the  test,  that  all  their  great  preparations  and  the 
result  of  their  toil  and  expense  might  not  be  tlirown  away.  —  Earl  of 
Aberdeen,  Hansard's  Parliamentary  Debates,  July  20,  1849. 

Bellum  para,  si  pacem  velis,  was  a  maxim  regarded  by  many  as  con- 
taining an  incontestable  truth.    It  was  one,  in  his  o|)inion,  to  be  received 

with  great  caution,  and  admitting  of  much   qualification We 

should  best  consult  the  true  interests  of  the  country  by  husbanding  our 
resources  in  a  time  of  peace,  and,  instead  of  a  lavish  exjjcnditure  on  all 
the  means  of  defence,  by  j)lacii)g  some  trust  in  the  latent  and  dormant 
energies  of  the  nation.  —  Sir  Robert  Peel,  Hansard's  Parltamentary 
Debater,  March  12,  1850. 

Let  us  terminate  this  disastrous  system  of  rival  expenditure,  and  mu- 
tually agree,  with  no  hypocrisy,  but  in  a  manner  and  under  circum- 
stances which  can  admit  of  no  doubt,  —  by  a  reduction  of  armaments, — 
that  peace  is  really  our  policy.  —  Mr.  D'Israeli,  Hansard's  Parlia- 
mentary Debates,  July  21,  1859. 

All  high  titles  of  honor  come  hitherto  from  fighting.  Your  Herzog 
(Duke,  Dux)  is  Leader  of  Armies;  your  Earl  (Jarl)  is  Strong  Man; 
your  Marshal,  Cavalry  Horseshoer  A  Millennium,  or  Reign  of  Peace 
and  Wisdom,  having  from  of  old  been  prophesied,  and  becoming  now 
daily  more  and  more  indubitable,  may  it  not  be  apprehended  that  such 
fighting  titles  will  cease  to  be  palatable,  and  new  and  higher  need  to 
be  devLsed  '  —  Carlyle,  Sartor  liesurtus,  Book  III.  chap.  7. 

After  the  memorable  conflict  of  June,  1848,  in  which,  as  Chefde  Ba- 
taillon,  he  |  Ary  Scheffer]  had  shown  a  capacity  for  military  conduct  not 
less  remarked  than  his  cool  courage.  General  Changarnier,  then  com- 
manding the  National  Guard  of  Paris,  tendered  to  Schcffer's  accept- 
ance the  cross  of  Commandcur.  IIo  replied,  "  Had  this  honorable  dis- 
tinction been  offered  to  me  in  my  quality  of  Artist,  and  as  a  recognition 
of  the  merit  of  my  works,  I  should  receive  it  with  deference  and  sat- 
isfaction. But  to  carry  about  me  a  decoration  reminding  me  only 
of  the  horrors  of  civil  war  is  what  I  cannot  consent  to  do."  —  Ary 
ScuEFFER,  Lije  by  Airs.  (Jrota,  Appendix. 


ORATION. 


IN  accordance  with  uninterrupted  usage,  on  this  Sab- 
bath of  the  Nation,  we  have  put  aside  our  daily 
cares,  and  seized  a  respite  from  the  never-ending  toils 
of  life,  to  meet  in  gladness  and  congratulation,  mindful 
of  the  blessings  transmitted  from  the  Past,  mindful  also, 
I  trust,  of  our  duties  to  the  Present  and  the  Future. 

All  hearts  turn  first  to  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic 
Their  venerable  forms  rise  before  us,  in  the  procession 
of  successive  generations.  They  come  from  the  frozen 
rock  of  Plymouth,  from  the  wasted  bands  of  Paleigh, 
from  the  heavenly  companionship  of  Penn,  from  the 
anxious  councils  of  the  Revolution,  —  from  all  those 
fields  of  sacrifice,  where,  in  obedience  to  the  spirit  of 
their  age,  they  sealed  their  devotion  to  duty  with  their 
blood.  They  say  to  us,  their  children,  "  Cease  to  vaunt 
what  you  do,  and  what  has  been  done  for  you.  Learn 
to  w\alk  meekly  and  to  think  humbly.  Cultivate  habits 
of  self-sacrifice.  Never  aim  at  what  is  not  right,  per- 
suaded that  without  this  every  possession  and  all  knowl- 
edge will  become  an  evil  and  a  shame.  And  may  these 
words  of  ours  be  ever  in  your  minds  !  Strive  to  increase 
the  inheritance  we  have  bequeathed  to  you,  —  bearing  in 
mind  always,  that,  if  we  excel  you  in  virtue,  such  a  vic- 

5 


6  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

tory  -will  be  to  us  a  mortification,  while  defeat  will  bring 
happiness.  In  tliis  way  you  may  conquer  us.  Xotli- 
iiig  is  more  shameful  for  a  man  than  a  claim  to  esteem, 
not  on  his  own  merits,  but  on  the  fame  of  his  ancestors. 
The  glory  of  the  fathers  is  doubtless  to  their  children  a 
most  precious  treasure;  but  to  enjoy  it  without  trans- 
mission to  the  next  generation,  and  without  addition,  is 
the  extreme  of  ignominy.  Following  these  counsels, 
when  your  days  on  earth  are  finished,  you  will  come 
to  join  us,  and  we  shall  receive  you  as  friend  receives 
friend ;  but  if  you  neglect  our  words,  expect  no  happy 
greeting  from  us."  ^ 

Honor  to  the  memory  of  our  fathers  !  May  the  turf 
lie  liglitly  on  their  sacred  graves  !  Not  in  words  only, 
but  in  deeds  also,  let  us  testify  our  reverence  for  their 
name,  imitating  what  in  them  was  lofty,  pure,  and 
good,  learning  from  them  to  bear  hardship  and  priva- 
tion. May  we,  who  now  reaj)  in  strength  what  they 
sowed  in  weakness,  augment  the  inheritance  we  have 
received  !  To  this  end,  we  must  not  fold  our  hands  in 
slumber,  nor  abide  content  with  the  past.  To  each 
generation  is  appointed  its  peculiar  task ;  nor  does  the 
heart  which  responds  to  the  call  of  duty  find  rest  ex- 
cept in  the  grave. 

Be  ours  the  task  now  in  the  order  of  Providence  cast 
upon  us.  And  what  is  this  duty  ?  What  can  we  do  to 
make  our  coming  welcome  to  our  fathers  in  the  skies, 
and  draw  to  our  memory  hereafter  the  homage  of  a 
grateful  posterity  ?  How  add  to  the  inheritance  re- 
ceived ?     The  answer  must  interest  all,  particularly  on 

1  This  is  borrowed  almost  literally  from  the  words  attributed  by  Plato 
to  the  Fathers  of  Athens,  in  the  beautiful  funeral  discourse  of  the  Me- 
nexenus. 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  7 

this  festival,  when  we  celebrate  the  Nativity  of  the  Re- 
' public.  It  well  becomes  the  patriot  citizen,  on  this 
anniversary,  to  consider  the  national  character,  and  how 
it  may  be  advanced,  —  as  the  good  man  dedicates  his 
birthday  to  meditation  on  his  life,  and  to  resolutions 
of  improvement.  Avoiding,  then,  all  exultation  in  the 
abounding  prosperity  of  the  land,  and  in  that  free- 
dom whose  influence  is  widening  to  the  uttermost  cir- 
cles of  the  earth,  I  would  turn  attention  to  the  char- 
acter of  our  country,  and  humbly  endeavor  to  learn 
what  must  be  done  that  the  Republic  may  best  secure 
the  welfare  of  the  people  committed  to  its  care,  —  that 
it  may  perform  its  part  in  the  world's  history,  —  that  it 
may  fvdfil  the  aspirations  of  generous  hearts,  —  and, 
practising  that  righteousness  which  exalteth  a  nation, 
attain  to  the  elevation  of  True  Grandeur. 

With  this  aim,  and  believing  that  I  can  in  no  other 
way  so  fitly  fulfil  the  trust  reposed  in  me  to-day,  I  pur- 
pose to  consider  what,  in  our  age,  are  the  true  objects  of 
national  ambition,  —  lohat  is  truly  National  Honor, 
National  Glory,  —  what  IS  THE  true  grandeur  of 
NATIONS.  T  would  not  depart  from  the  modesty  that 
becomes  me,  yet  I  am  not  without  hope  that  I  may  do 
something  to  rescue  these  terms,  now  so  powerful  over 
the  minds  of  men,  from  mistaken  objects,  especially 
from  deeds  of  war,  and  the  extension  of  empire,  that 
they  may  be  applied  to  works  of  justice  and  benefi- 
cence, which  are  better  than  war  or  empire. 

The  subject  may  be  novel,  on  an  occasion  like  the 
present ;  but  it  is  comprehensive,  and  of  transcendent 
importance.  It  raises  us  to  the  contemplation  of  things 
not  temporary  or  local,  but  belonging  to  all  ages  and 


8  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

countries,  —  things  lofty  as  Truth,  universal  as  Hu- 
manity. Nay,  more ;  it  practically  concerns  the  gen- , 
eral  welfare,  not  only  of  our  own  cherished  Repub- 
lic, but  of  the  whole  Federation  of  Nations.  It  has 
an  uraent  interest  from  transactions  in  which  we  are 
now  imhappily  involved.  By  an  act  of  unjust  legis- 
lation, extending  our  power  over  Texas,  peace  with 
Mexico  is  endangered,  —  wliile,  by  petulant  assertion 
of  a  disputed  claim  to  a  remote  territory  beyond  the 
Kocky  Mountains,  ancient  fires  of  hostile  strife  are 
kindled  anew  on  the  hearth  of  our  mother  country. 
Mexico  and  England  both  avow  the  determination  to 
vindicate  what  is  called  the  National  Honor ;  and  our 
Government  calmly  contemplates  the  dread  Ai'bitra- 
ment  of  "War,  provided  it  cannot  obtain  what  is  called 
an  honorable  peace. 

Far  from  our  nation  and  our  age  be  the  sin  and 
shame  of  contests  hateful  in  the  sight  of  God  and  all 
good  men,  having  their  origin  in  no  righteous  sentiment, 
no  true  love  of  country,  no  generous  thirst  for  fame, 
"  that  last  infirmity  of  noble  mind,"  but  springing  mani- 
festly from  an  ignorant  and  ignoble  passion  for  new  ter- 
ritory, strengthened,  in  our  case,  in  a  republic  whose 
star  is  Liberty,  by  unnatural  desire  to  add  new  links 
in  chains  destined  yet  to  fall  from  the  limbs  of  the 
unhappy  slave  !  In  such  contests  God  has  no  attribute 
whicli  can  join  with  us.  Who  believes  that  the  na- 
tional honor  would  be  promoted  by  a  war  with  IMexico 
or  a  war  with  England  ?  What  just  man  would  sacri- 
fice a  single  human  life  to  bring  under  our  rule  both 
Texas  and  Oregon  ?  An  ancient  Roman,  ignorant  of 
Christian  truth,  touched  only  l)y  the  relation  of  fellow- 
countryman,  and  not  of  fellow-man,  said,  as  he  turned 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  9 

aside  from  a  career  of  Asiatic  conquest,  that  he  would 
rather  save  the  life  of  a  single  citizen  than  win  to  his 
power  all  the  dominions  of  Mithridates.^ 

A  war  with  Mexico  would  be  mean  and  cowardly; 
with  England  it  would  be  bold  at  least,  though  parrici- 
dal. The  heart  sickens  at  the  murderous  attack  upon 
an  enemy  distracted  by  civil  feud,  weak  at  home,  impo- 
tent abroad ;  but  it  recoils  in  horror  from  the  deadly  shock 
between  children  of  a  common  ancestry,  speaking  the 
same  language,  soothed  in  infancy  by  the  same  words 
of  love  and  tenderness,  and  hardened  into  vigorous  man- 
hood under  the  bracing  influence  of  institutions  instinct 
with  the  same  vital  breath  of  freedom.  The  Eoman  his- 
torian has  aptly  pictured  this  unnatural  combat.  Earely 
do  words  of  the  past  so  justly  describe  the  present.  Cu- 
raiii  acuebat,  quod  advcrsus  Latinos  bellandum  erat,  lin- 
gua, moribus,  armoruTn  ganere,  institutis  ante  omnia 
militaribus  congruentes :  milites  militibus,  centurioni- 
bits  ccnturioncs,  tribuni  tribunis  compares  collegceque, 
iisdcm  proisidiis,  swpc  iisdcni  manipidis  permixti  f  lie- 
rant? 

Can  there  be  in  our  age  any  peace  that  is  not  hon- 
orable, any  war  that  is  not  dishonorable  ?  The  true 
honor  of  a  nation  is  conspicuous  only  in  deeds  of 
justice  and  beneficence,  securing  and  advancing  hu- 
man happiness.  In  the  clear  eye  of^  that  Christian 
judgment  which  must  yet  prevail,  vain  are  the  victo- 
ries of  War,  infamous  its  spoils.  He  is  the  benefactor, 
ami  worthy  of  honor,  wTio~~carries  com_fort  to  wretched- 
ness, dries  the  tear  of  sorrow,  relieves  the  unfortu- 
nate, feeds  the  hungry,  clothes  the  naked,  does  jus- 
tice, enlightens  the   ignorant,  unfastens  the  fetters  of 

1  Plutarch,  Luadlns,  Cnp.  VIII.  2  Li%7'.  Hist.,  Lib.  VIII.  c.  6. 


10  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

the  slave,  and  finally,  by  virtuous  genius,  in  art,  lit- 
erature, science,  enlivens  and  exalts  the  hours  of  life, 
or,  by  generous  example,  inspires  a  love  for  God  and 
man.  This  is  the  Christian  hero ;  this  is  the  man  of 
honor  in  a  Christian  land.  He  is  no  benefactor,  nor 
worthy  of  honor,  whatever  his  worldly  renown,  whose 
life  is  absorbed  in  feats  of  brute  force,  who  renounces 
the  great  law  of  Christian  brotherhood,  whose  vocation 
is  blood.  Well  may  the  modern  poet  exclaim,  "The 
world  knows  nothing  of  its  greatest  men !  "  —  for  thus 
far  it  has  chiefly  honored  the  violent  brood  of  Battle, 
armed  men  springing  up  from  the  dragon's  teeth  sown 
by  Hate,  and  cared  little  for  the  truly  good  men,  chil- 
dren of  Love,  guiltless  of  their  country's  blood,  whose 
steps  on  earth  are  noiseless  as  an  angel's  wing. 

It  will  not  be  disguised  that  tliis  standard  diflcrs  from 
that  of  the  world  even  in  our  day.  Tlie  voice  of  man 
is  yet  given  to  martial  praise,  and  the  honors  of  victory 
are  chanted  even  by  the  lips  of  woman.  The  mother, 
rocking  the  infimt  on  her  knee,  stamps  the  images  of 
"War  upon  his  tender  mind,  at  that  age  more  im- 
pressible than  wax ;  she  nurses  his  slumber  with  its 
music,  pleases  his  waking  hours  with  its  stories,  and 
selects  for  his  playtliings  the  plume  and  the  sword. 
From  the  chikl  is  formed  the  man ;  and  who  can  weigh 
the  influence  of  a  mother's  spirit  on  the  o])inions  of  his 
life  ?  The  mind  which  trains  the  child  is  like  a  liand 
at  the  end  of  a  long  lever ;  a  gentle  effort  suffices  to 
heave  the  enormous  weight  of  succeeding  years.  As  the 
boy  advances  to  youth,  he  is  fed  like  Achilles,  not  on 
honey  and  milk  only,  but  on  bears'  marrow  and  lions' 
hearts.  He  draws  tlie  nutriment  of  his  soul  from  a  lit- 
erature whose  beautiful  fields  are  moistened  by  human 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  11 

blood.  Fain  would  I  offer  my  tribute  to  tbe  Father  of 
Poetry,  standing  with  harp  of  immortal  melody  on  the 
misty  mountain-top  of  distant  Antiquity,  —  to  those 
stories  of  courage  and  sacrifice  which  emblazon  the  an- 
nals of  Greece  and  Kome,  —  to  the  fulminations  of  De- 
mosthenes and  the  splendors  of  Tully,  —  to  the  sweet 
verse  of  Virgil  and  the  poetic  prose  of  Livy ;  fain  would 
I  offer  my  tribute  to  the  new  Hterature,  which  shot  up 
in  modern  times  as  a  vigorous  forest  from  the  burnt  site 
of  ancient  woods,  —  to  the  passionate  song  of  the  Trou- 
badour in  France  and  the  Minnesinger  in  Germany,  — 
to  the  thrilling  ballad  of  Spain  and  the  delicate  music 
of  the  Italian  lyre  :  but  from  all  these  has  breathed  the 
breath  of  War,  that  has  swept  the  heart-strings  of  men 
in  all  the  thronging  generations. 

And  when  the  youth  becomes  a  man,  his  country  in- 
vites his  service  in  war,  and  holds  before  his  bewildered 
imagination  the  prizes  of  worldly  honor.  For  him  the 
pen  of  the  historian  and  the  verse  of  the  jDoet.  His 
soul  is  taught  to  swell  at  the  thought  that  he,  too,  is  a 
soldier,  —  that  his  name  shall  be  entered  on  the  list  of 
those  who  have  borne  arms  for  their  country  ;  and  per- 
haps he  dreams  that  he,  too,  may  sleep,  like  the  Great 
Captain  of  Spain,  with  a  hundred  trophies  over  his 
grave.  The  law  of  the  land  tlirows  its  sanction  over 
this  frenzy.  The  contagion  spreads  beyond  those  sub- 
ject to  positive  obligation.  Peaceful  citizens  volunteer 
to  appear  as  soldiers,  and  affect,  in  dress,  arms,  and  de- 
portment, wliat  is  called  the  "  pride,  pomp,  and  circum- 
stance of  glorious  war."  The  ear-piercing  fife  has  to- 
day filled  our  streets,  and  we  have  come  to  this  churcli, 
on  this  National  Sabbath,  by  the  thump  of  drum  and 
with  the  parade  of  bristling  bayonets. 


12  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUli   OF   NATIONS. 

It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  the  Spirit  of  War  still 
finds  a  home  among  us,  nor  that  its  honors  continue  to 
be  regarded.  All  this  may  seem  to  illustrate  the  bitter 
philosophy  of  Hobbes,  declaring  that  the  natural  state 
of  mankind  is  War,  and  to  sustain  the  exulting  language 
of  tlie  soldier  in  our  own  day,  when  he  wrote,  "  War  is  the 
condition  of  this  world.  From  man  to  the  smallest  in- 
sect, all  are  at  strife  ;  and  the  glory  of  arms,  which  can- 
not be  obtained  without  the  exercise  of  honor,  fortitude, 
courage,  obedience,  modesty,  and  temperance,  excites 
the  brave  man's  patriotism,  and  is  a  chastening  correc- 
tive for  the  rich  man's  pride."  ^  This  is  broad  and  bold. 
In  madder  mood,  another  British  general  is  reported  as 
saying,  "  ^Vhy,  man,  do  you  know  that  a  grenadier  is 
the  greatest  character  in  this  world,"  —  and  after  a  mo- 
ment's pause,  with  the  added  emphasis  of  an  oath,  "  and, 
I  believe,  in  the  next,  too."  ^  All  these  spoke  in  har- 
mony. If  one  is  true,  all  are  true.  A  French  voice  has 
struck  another  note,  chantino-  nothing  less  than  the  di- 
vinity  of  war,  liailing  it  as  "  divine  "  in  itself,  —  "  di- 
vine" in  its  consequences, — "divine"  in  mysterious  glory 
and  seductive  attraction,  —  "  divine  "  in  the  manner  of 
its  declaration,  —  "  divine  "  in  tlie  results  obtained,  — 
"  divine "  in  the  undefinal)le  force  by  which  its  tri- 
umph is  determined  ;  ^  and  the  whole  earth,  continually 
imbibing  blood,  is  nothing  bnt  an  immense  altar,  where 
life  is  immolated  without  end,  without  measure,  with- 
out respite.  But  this  oracle  is  not  saved  from  rejec- 
tion e\en  Ity  tlie  magistral  style  in  which  it  is  deliv- 
ered. 

1  Najjior,  Peninsular  War,  Book  XXIV.  ch.  6,  Vol.  VI.  p.  688. 

2  Soiitlicy,  Colloquies  on  the  Progress  and  Prospects  of  Societj%  Coll.  VIII., 
Vol.  I.  p.  211. 

8  Joseph  de  Maistre,  Soir(5es  de  Saint-Pi-tersbourg,  Tom.  II.  pp.  27, 32  -  35. 


THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  13 

Alas !  in  the  existing  attitude  of  nations,  the  infidel 
philosopher  and  the  rlietorical  soldier,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  giddy  general  and  the  French  priest  of  Mars,  find 
too  much  support  for  a  theory  which  degrades  human 
nature  and  insults  the  goodness  of  God.  It  is  true  that 
in  us  are  impulses  unhappily  tending  to  strife.  Pro- 
pensities possessed  in  common  with  the  beast,  if  not 
subordinated  to  what  in  man  is  human,  almost  divine, 
will  break  forth  in  outrage.  This  is  the  predominance 
of  the  animal.  Hence  wars  and  fightings,  with  the 
false  glory  which  crowns  such  barbarism.  But  the 
true  civilization  of  nations,  as  of  individuals,  is  deter- 
mined by  the  extent  to  wdiich  these  evil  dispositions  are 
restrained.  Nor  does  the  teacher  ever  more  truly  per-' 
form  liis  high  office  than  when,  recognizing  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  moral  and  intellectual,  he  calls  upon  nations, 
as  upon  individuals,  to  declare  independence  of  the  bes- 
tial, to  abandon  practices  founded  on  tliis  part  of  our 
nature,  and  in  every  way  to  beat  down  that  brutal  spirit 
which  is  the  Genius  of  War.  In  making  this  appeal,  he 
will  be  startled  as  he  learns,  that,  while  the  municipal 
law  of  each  Christian  nation,  discarding  the  Arbitra- 
ment of  Force,  provides  a  judicial  tribunal  for  the 
determination  of  controversies  between  individuals.  In- 
ternational Law  expressly  establishes  the  Arbitrament  of 
War  for  the  determination  of  controversies  between 
nations. 

Here,  then,  in  unfolding  the  True  Grandeur  of  Na- 
tions, w^e  encounter  a  practice,  or  custom,  sanctioned  by 
the  Law  of  Nations,  and  constituting  a  part  of  that  law, 
which  exists  in  defiance  of  principles  such  as  no  indi- 
viduals can  disown.  If  it  is  wTong  and  inglorious  when 
individuals  consent  and  agree  to  determine  their  petty 


14  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

coutroversies  by  combat,  it  must  be  equally  wTong  and 
inglorious  when  nations  consent  and  agree  to  determine 
their  vaster  controversies  by  combat.  Here  is  a  positive, 
precise,  and  specific  evil,  of  gigantic  proportions,  incon- 
sistent with  what  is  tridy  honorable,  making  within  the 
sphere  of  its  influence  all  true  grandeur  impossible, 
which,  instead  of  proceeding  from  some  uncontrollable 
impulse  of  our  nature,  is  expressly  established  and  organ- 
ized hy  law. 

As  all  citizens  are  parties  to  Municipal  Law,  and  re- 
sponsible for  its  institutions,  so  are  all  the  Christian 
nations  parties  to  International  Law,  and  responsible  for 
its  provisions.  By  recognizing  these  provisions,  nations 
consent  and  agree  beforehand  to  the  Arbitrament  of  War, 
precisely  as  citizens,  by  recognizing  Trial  by  Jury,  con- 
sent and  agree  beforehand  to  the  latter  tribunal.  As,  to 
comprehend  the  true  nature  of  Trial  by  Jury,  we  first 
repair  to  the  Municipal  Law  by  wliich  it  is  established, 
so,  to  comprehend  the  true  nature  of  the  Arbitrament 
of  War,  we  must  first  repair  to  the  Law  of  Nations. 

Writers  of  genius  and  learning  have  defined  this  ar- 
bitrament, and  laid  down  the  rules  by  which  it  is  gov- 
erned, constituting  a  complex  code,  with  innumerable 
subtile  provisions  regulating  the  resort  to  it  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  must  be  conducted,  called  the 
Laws  of  War.  In  these  quarters  we  catch  our  first  au- 
thentic glimpses  of  its  folly  and  wickedness.  Accord- 
ing to  Lord  Bacon,  whose  authority  is  always  great, 
"  Wars  are  no  massacres  and  confusions,  but  they  are 
the  highest  Trials  of  Right,  when  princes  and  states,  that 
acknowledge  no  superior  upon  earth,  shall  ])ut  them- 
selves upon  the  justice  of  God  for  the  deciding  of  their 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS.  15 

controversies  by  such  success  as  it  shall  please  him  to 
give  on  either  side."  ^  This  definition  of  the  English 
philosopher  is  adopted  by  the  American  jurist,  Chancel- 
lor Kent,  in  his  Commentaries  on  American  Law.^  The 
Swiss  publicist,  Vattel,  whose  work  is  accepted  as  an 
important  repository  of  the  Law  of  Nations,  defines 
War  as  "that  state  in  which  a  nation  prosecutes  its 
right  hy  forcer  ^  In  this  he  very  nearly  follows  the 
eminent  Dutch  authority,  Bynkershoek,  who  says,  "  Bel- 
lum  est  eorum,  qui  suae  potestatis  sunt,  juris  sui  jjcr- 
sequcndi  ergo,  concertatio  per  vim  vel  dolum."  *  Mr. 
Wliewell,  who  has  done  so  much  to  illustrate  philoso- 
phy in  all  its  departments,  says,  in  his  recent  work  on 
the  Elements  of  Morality  and  Polity,  "  Though  war  is 
appealed  to,  because  there  is  no  other  ultimate  tribu- 
nal to  which  states  can  have  recourse,  it  is  appealed  to 
for  justice^  ^  And  in  our  country.  Dr.  Lieber  says,  in 
a  work  of  learning  and  sagacious  thought,  that  war  is 
undertaken  "  in  order  to  obtain  right,"  ^  —  a  definition 
which  hardly  differs  in  form  from  those  of  Vattel  and 
Bjmkershoek. 

In  accordance  with  these  texts,  I  would  now  define 
the  evil  which  I  arraign.  War  is  a  public  armed  contest 
between  nations,  under  the  sanction  of  International  Law, 
to  establish  justice  between  them :  as,  for  instance,  to  de- 
terrnine  a  disputed  boundary,  the  title  to  territory,  or  a 
claim  for  damages. 

This  definition  is  confined  to  contests  between  nations. 

^  Observations  upon  a  Libel,  etc.,  Work^,  Vol.  III.  p.  40. 
-  Lecture  III.,  Vol.  I.  p.  45. 

3  Book  III.  ch.  1,  sec.  1. 

4  Quaest.  Jur.  Pub.,  Lib.  I.  cap.  1. 

5  Book  VI.  ch.  2.  art.  1146. 

6  Political  Ethics,  Book  VIL  sec.  19,  Vol.  II.  p.  643. 


16  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

It  is  restricted  to  International  War,  carefully  excluding 
the  question,  often  agitated,  concerning  the  right  of 
revolution,  and  that  other  question,  on  which  friends 
of  peace  sometimes  differ,  the  right  of  personal  self- 
defence.  It  does  not  in  any  way  throw  doubt  on  the 
employment  of  force  in  the  administration  of  justice 
or  the  conservation  of  domestic  quiet. 

It  is  true  that  the  term  defensive  is  always  applied 
to  M'ars  in  our  day.  And  it  is  creditable  to  the  moral 
sense  that  nations  are  constrained  to  allege  this  seem- 
ing excuse,  although  its  absurdity  is  apparent  in  the 
equal  pretensions  of  the  two  belligerents,  each  claim- 
ing to  act  on  the  defensive.  It  is  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  war  can  arise  in  the  present  age,  under  the 
sanctions  of  International  Law,  except  to  determine  an 
asserted  right.  Wliatever  its  character  in  periods  of 
barbarism,  or  when  invoked  to  repel  an  incursion  of 
robbers  or  pirates,  "  enemies  of  the  human  race,"  war 
becomes  in  our  day,  among  all  the  nations  2)arties  to  ex- 
isting International  Law,  simply  a  mode  of  litigation, 
or  of  deciding  a  lis  pendens.  It  is  a  mere  trial  of 
RIGHT,  an  a])peal  for  justice  to  force.  The  wars  now 
lowering  from  j\Iexico  and  England  are  of  this  char- 
acter. On  tlie  one  side,  we  assert  a  title  to  Texas, 
which  is  disputed;  on  the  other,  we  assert  a  title  to 
Oregon,  which  is  disputed.  Only  according  to  "  mar- 
tial logic,"  or  the  "  flasli  language "  of  a  dislionest 
patriotism,  can  the  Ordeal  by  Battle  be  regarded  in 
these  causes,  on  either  side,  as  Defensive  War.  Nor 
did  the  threatened  war  with  France  in  1834  prom- 
ise to  assume  any  different  character.  Its  professed 
o1)ject  was  to  obtain  tlie  payment  of  five  million  dol- 
lars,—  in  otlier  words,  to  determine  by  this   Ultimate 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  17 

Tribunal  a  simple  question  of  justice.  And  going  back 
still  farther  in  our  history,  the  avowed  purpose  of  the 
■war  against  Great  Britain  in  1812  was  to  obtain  from 
the  latter  power  an  abandonment  of  the  claim  to  search 
American  vessels.  Unrighteous  as  was  this  claim,  it 
is  plain  that  war  here  was  invoked  only  as  a  Trial  of 
Rigid. 

It  forms  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  consider  individ- 
ual wars  in  the  past,  except  so  far  as  necessary  by  way 
of  example.  My  aim  is  higher.  I  wish  to  expose  an 
irrational,  cruel,  and  impious  custom,  sanctioned  by  the 
Law  of  Nations.  On  this  account  I  resort  to  that 
svipreme  law  for  the  definition  on  which  I  plant  my- 
self in  the  effort  I  now  make. 

Aftex  considering,  in  succession,  first,  the  character 
of  war,  secondly,  the  miseries  it  pjroduces,  and,  thirdly, 
its 'utter  and  pitiful  insufficiency,  as  a  mode  of  de- 
terihming  justice,  we  shall  be  able  to  decide,  strictly 
and  logically,  whether  it  must  not  be  ranked  as  crime, 
from  which  no  true  honor  can  spring  to  individuals  or 

^natibnsT  To  appreciate  this  evil,  and  the  necessity  for 
its  overthrow,  it  will  be  our  duty,  fourthly,  to  consider 
in  succession  the  various  prejudices  by  which  it  is  sus- 
tained, ending  with  that  prejudice,  so  gigantic  and_  all- 
embracing,  at  whose  command  uncounted  sums  are 
madly  diverted  from  purposes  of  peace  to  preparations 
for  war.      The   whole    subject   is   infinitely   practical, 

"while  lEEe  concluding  division  shows  how  the  public 
treasury  may  be  relieved,  and  new  means  secured  for 
human  advancement. 


18  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUll   OF   NATIONS. 


First,  as  to  the  essential  character  and  root  of  war, 
or  that  part  of  our  nature  whence  it  proceeds.  Listen 
to  the  voice  from  the  ancient  poet  of  Boeotian  Ascra :  — 

"  This  is  the  law  for  mortals,  ordained  by  the  Ruler  of  Heaven: 
Fishes  and  beasts  and  birds  of  the  air  devour  each  other; 
Justice  dwells  not  among  them:  only  to  man  has  he  given 
Justice  the  Highest  and  Best.'"  ^ 

These  words  of  old  Hesiod  exhibit  the  distinction  be- 
tween man  and  beast;  but  this  very  distinction  be- 
longs to  the  present  discussion.  The  idea  rises  to  the 
mind  at  once,  that  war  is  a  resort  to  brute  force,  where 
nations  strive  to  overpower  each  other.  Eeason,  and 
the  divine  part  of  our  nature,  where  alone  we  differ 
from  the  beast,  where  alone  we  approach  the  Divinity, 
where  alone  are  the  elements  of  that  justice  which  is 
the  professed  object  of  war,  are  rudely  dethroned.  For 
tlie  time  men  adopt  the  nature  of  beasts,  emulating 
their  ferocity,  like  them  rejoicing  in  blood,  and  with 
lion's  paw  clutching  an  asserted  right.  Though  in  more 
recent  days  this  character  is  somewhat  disguised  by 
tlie  skill  and  knowledge  employed,  war  is  still  the  same, 
only  more  destructive  from  the  genius  and  intellect 
which  have  become  its  servants.  The  primitive  poets, 
in  the  unconscious  simplicity  of  the  world's  childhood, 
make  this  boldly  apparent.  Tlie  lieroes  of  Homer  are 
likened  to  animals  in  ungovernable  fury,  or  to  things 
devoid  of  reason   or   affection.     Menelaus   presses  his 

'  Hesiod,  Works  and  Days,  w.  276-279.  Cicero  also  says,  "  Neque  ulla 
re  lonpius  absumus  a  natura  ferarum,  in  quibus  inesse  fortitudinem  saepe 
dicimus,  ut  in  equis,  in  leoinbus;  justitiam,  aequitatem,  bonitatem  non 
dicimus."  —  De  OlBc.,  Lib.  1.  cap.  16. 


THE   TRUE    GRANDEUR    OF   NATIONS.  19 

way  through  the  crowd  "  like  a  wild  beast."  Sarpedon 
is  aroused  against  the  Argives,  "  as  a  lipn  against  the 
crooked-horned  oxen,"  and  afterwards  rushes  forward 
"like  a  lion  nurtured  on  the  mountains,  for  a  long 
time  famished  for  want  of  flesh,  but  whose  courage 
impels  him  to  attack  even  the  well-guarded  sheep- 
fold."  In  one  and  the  same  passage,  the  great  Tela- 
monian  Ajax  is  "  wild  beast,"  "  tawny  lion,"  and  "  dull 
ass  " ;  and  all  the  Greek  chiefs,  the  flower  of  the  camp, 
are  ranged  about  Diomed,  "  like  raw-eating  lions,  or  wild- 
boars,  whose  strength  is  irresistible."  Even  Hector,  the 
model  hero,  with  all  the  virtues  of  war,  is  praised  as 
"  tamer  of  horses " ;  and  one  of  his  renowned  feats  in 
battle,  indicating  brute  strength  only,  is  where  he  takes 
up  and  hurls  a  stone  which  two  of  our  strongest  men 
could  not  easily  lift  into  a  wagon ;  and  he  drives  over 
dead  bodies  and  shields,  while  the  axle  is  defiled  by 
gore,  and  the  guard  about  the  seat  is  sprinkled  from  the 
horses'  hoofs  and  the  tires  of  the  wheels  ;  ^  and  in  that 
most  admired  passage  of  ancient  literature,  before  re- 
turning his  child,  the  young  Astyanax,  to  the  arms  of 
the  wife  he  is  about  to  leave,  this  liero  of  war  invokes 
the  gods  for  a  single  blessing  on  the  boy's  head,  —  "  tliat 
he  may  excel  his  father,  and  bring  home  Moody  spoils, 
his  enemy  being  slain,  and  so  make  glad  the  heart  of  his 
mother  !  " 

From  early  fields  of  modern  literature,  as  from  those 
of  antiquity,  might  be  gathered  similar  illustrations, 
showing  the  unconscious  degradation  of  tlie  soldier,  in 
vain  pursuit  of  justice,  renouncing  the  human  character, 

1  Little  better  than  Trojan  Hector  was  the  "  great"  Cond^  raniring  over 
t!ie  field  and  exulting  in  the  blood  of  the  enemy,  which  defiled  his  sword- 
arm  to  the  elbow.  —  Mahou,  Essai  sur  la  Vie  du  Grand  Cond^,  p.  60. 


20  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

to  assume  that  of  brute.  Bayard,  the  exemplar  of  chiv- 
alry, with  a  name  always  on  the  lips  of  its  votaries, 
was  described  by  the  qualities  of  beasts,  being,  accord- 
ing to  his  admirers,  ram  in  attack,  ivilcl-hoar  in  defence, 
and  wolf  in  flifjht.  Henry  the  Fifth,  as  represented  by 
our  own  Shakespeare,  in  the  spirit-stirring  appeal  to  his 
troops  exclaims,  — 

"  When  the  blast  of  war  blows  in  our  ears, 
Then  imitate  the  action  of  the  tiger." 

This  is  plain  and  frank,  revealing  the  true  character  of 
war. 

I  need  not  dwell  on  the  moral  debasement  that  must 
ensue.  Passions,  like  so  many  bloodhounds,  are  un- 
leashed and  suffered  to  rage.  Crimes  filling  our  pris- 
ons stalk  abroad  in  the  soldier's  garb,  unwhipped  of 
justice.  Murder,  robbery,  rape,  arson,  are  the  sports 
of  this  fiendish  Saturnalia,  when 

"  The  gates  of  mercy  shdl  be  all  shut  up, 
And  the  fleshed  soldier,  rough  and  hard  of  heart, 
In  liberty  of  bloody  hand  shall  range 
With  conscience  wide  as  hell.'' 

By  a  bold,  l)ut  truthful  toucli,  Shakespeare  thus  pic- 
tures the  foul  disfigurement  which  war  produces  in  man, 
whose  native  capacities  lie  describes  in  those  beautiful 
w(jrds  :  "  How  noljle  in  reason  !  how  infinite  in  faculties  ! 
in  form  and  moving  how  express  and  admirable  !  in  ac- 
tion how  like  an  angel !  in  apprehension  how  like  a 
god  ! "  And  yet  this  nobility  of  reason,  this  infinitude 
of  faculties,  this  marvel  of  form  and  motion,  tliis  nature 
so  angelic,  so  godlike,  are  all,  under  the  transforming 
power  of  War,  lost  in  the  action  of  tlie  beast,  or  the 
license  of  the  fleshed  soldier  with  bloody  hand  and 
conscience  wide  as  hell. 


THE  TRUE   GKANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  21 


TI. 


The  immediate  effect  of  war  is  to  sever  all  relations 
of  friendship  and  commerce  between  the  belligerent  na- 
tions, and  every  individual  thereof,  impressing  upon  each 
citizen  or  subject  the  character  of  enemy.  Imagine  this 
instant  change  between  England  and  the  United  States. 
The  innumerable  ships  of  the  two  countries,  the  white 
doves  of  commerce,  bearing  the  olive  of  peace,  are 
driven  from  the  sea,  or  turned  from  peaceful  purposes 
to  be  ministers  of  destruction ;  the  threads  of  social 
and  business  intercourse,  so  carefully  woven  into  a 
thick  web,  are  suddenly  snapped  asunder ;  friend  can 
no  longer  communicate  with  friend ;  the  twenty  thou- 
sand letters  speeded  each  fortnight  from  this  port  alone 
are  arrested,  and  the  human  affections,  of  which  they 
are  the  precious  expression,  seek  in  vain  for  utterance. 
Tell  me,  you  with  friends  and  kindred  abroad,  or  you 
bound  to  other  lands  only  by  relations  of  commerce,  are 
you  ready  for  this  rude  separation  ? 

This  is  little  compared  with  what  must  follow.  It  is 
but  the  first  portentous  shadow  of  disastrous  eclipse, 
twilight  usher  of  thick  darkness,  covering  the  whole 
heavens  with  a  pall,  broken  only  by  the  lightnings  of 
battle  and  siege. 

Such  horrors  redden  the  historic  page,  while,  to  the 
scandal  of  humanity,  they  never  want  historians  with 
feelings  kindred  to  those  by  which  they  are  inspired. 
The  demon  that  draws  the  sword  also  guides  the  pen. 
The  favorite  chronicler  of  modern  Europe,  Froissart,  dis- 
covers  his   sympathies   in   his   Prologue,   where,  with 


22  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

something  of  apostleship,  he  announces  his  purpose, 
"that  the  honomble  enterprises  and  noble  adventures 
and  feats  of  arms  M'hich  happened  in  the  wars  of  Fiance 
and  England  be  notably  registered  and  put  in  perpetual 
memory,"  and  then  proceeds  to  bestow  his  equal  admi- 
ration upon  bravery  and  cunning,  upon  the  courtesy 
which  pardoned  as  upon  the  rage  which  caused  the  flow 
of  blood  in  torrents,  dwelling  with  especial  delight  on 
"  beautiful  incursions,  beautiful  rescues,  beautiful  feats 
of  arms,  and  beautiful  prowesses  "  ;  and  wantoning  in 
pictures  of  cities  assaulted,  "  which,  being  soon  gained 
by  force,  were  robbed,  and  men  and  women  and  children 
put  to  the  sword  without  mercy,  while  the  churches  were 
burnt  and  violated."  ^  This  was  in  a  barbarous  age. 
But  popular  writers  in  our  own  day,  dazzled  by  false 
ideas  of  greatness,  at  which  reason  and  humanity 
blush,  do  not  hesitate  to  dwell  on  similar  scenes  even 
"sWth  rapture  and  eulogy.  The  humane  soul  of  Wilber- 
force,  which  sighed  that  England's  "  bloody  laws  sent 
many  unprepared  into  another  world,"  could  hail  the 
slaughter  of  Waterloo,  by  which  thousands  were  hurried 
into  eternity  on  the  Sabbath  he  held  so  holy,  as  a 
"  splendid  victory."  ^ 

My  present  purpose  is  less  to  judge  the  historian  than 
to  expose  the  horrors  on  horrors  which  he  ajiplauds. 
At  Tarragona,  above  six  thousand  human  beings,  almost 
all  defenceless,  men  and  women,  gray  hairs  and  infant 
innocence,  attractive  youth  and  \mnkled  age,  were 
butchered  by  the  infuriate  troops  in  one  night,  and  the 
morning  sun  rose  uj)on  a  city  whose  streets  and  houses 

1  Froissart,  Les  Chroniques,  Ch.  177,  179,  Collection  de  Ruchon,  Tom.  II. 
pp.  87,  92. 

2  Life  of  Willhun  Wilberforce,  by  his  Sons,  Ch.  30,  Vol.  IV.  j.p  25G,  261. 


THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  23 

were  inundated  with  blood :  and  yet  this  is  called  a 
"glorious  exploit."  ^  Here  was  a  conquest  by  the 
French.  At  a  later  day,  Ciudad  Rodrigo  was  stormed  by 
the  British,  when,  in  the  Kcense  of  victory,  there  ensued 
a  savage  scene  of  plunder  and  violence,  while  shouts 
and  screams  on  all  sides  mingled  fearfully  with  the 
groans  of  the  wounded.  Churches  were  desecrated,  cel- 
lars of  wine  and  spirits  were  pillaged,  fire  was  wantonly 
applied  to  the  city,  and  brutal  intoxication  spread  in 
every  direction.  Only  when  the  drunken  dropped  from 
excess,  or  fell  asleep,  was  any  degree  of  order  restored  : 
and  yet  the  storming  of  Ciudad  Kodrigo  is  pronounced 
"  one  of  the  most  brilliant  exploits  of  the  British  army."  ^ 
This  "  beautiful  feat  of  arms "  was  followed  by  the 
storming  of  Badajoz,  where  the  same  scenes  were  en- 
acted again,  with  accumulated  atrocities.  The  story  shall 
be  told  in  the  words  of  a  partial  historian,  who  himself 
saw  what  he  eloquently  describes.  "  Shameless  rapacity, 
brutal  intemperance,  savage  lust,  cruelty,  and  murder, 
shrieks  and  piteous  lamentations,  groans,  shouts,  impre- 
cations, the  hissing  of  fires  bursting  from  the  houses,  the 
crashing  of  doors  and  windows,  and  the  reports  of  mus- 
kets used  in  violence,  resounded  for  two  days  and  nights 
in  the  streets  of  Badajoz.  On  the  third,  when  the  city 
was  sacked,  when  the  soldiers  were  exhausted  by  their 
own  excesses,  the  tumult  rather  subsided  than  was 
quelled.  The  wounded  men  were  then  looked  to,  the 
dead  disposed  of."  ^  All  this  is  in  the  nature  of  confes- 
sion, for  the  historian  is  a  partisan  of  battle. 

The  same  terrible  war   affords    another  instance   of 
atrocities  at  a  siege  crying  to  Heaven.     For  weeks  be- 

1  Alison,  Hist,  of  Europe,  Ch.  61,  Vol.  VHI.  p.  237. 

2  Ibid.,  Ch.  64,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  482. 

8  Napier,  Hist.  Peninsular  War,  Book  XVI.  ch.  5,  Vol.  IV.  p.  431. 


24  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

fore  the  surrender  of  Saragossa,  the  deaths  daily  were 
from  four  to  tive  hundred ;  and  as  the  living  could  not 
bury  the  increasing  mass,  thousands  of  carcasses,  scat- 
tered in  streets  and  court-yards,  or  piled  in  heaps  at  the 
doors  of  churches,  were  left  to  dissolve  in  their  own 
corruption,  or  be  licked  up  by  the  flames  of  burning 
houses.  The  city  was  shaken  to  its  foundations  by  six- 
teen thousand  shells,  and  the  explosion  of  forty-live 
thousand  pounds  of  powder  in  the  mines,  —  while  the 
bones  of  forty  thousand  victims,  of  every  age  and  both 
sexes,  bore  dreadful  testimony  to  the  unutterable  cruelty 
of  War.i 

These  might  seem  pictures  from  the  life  of  Alaric, 
who  led  the  Goths  to  Eome,  or  of  Attila,  general  of 
the  Huns,  called  the  Scourge  of  God,  and  who  boasted 
that  the  grass  did  not  grow  where  his  horse  had  set 
his  foot ;  but  no  !  they  belong  to  our  own  times.  They 
are  portions  of  the  wonderful,  but  wicked,  career  of 
him  who  stands  forth  the  foremost  representative  of 
worldly  grandeur.  The  heart  aches,  as  we  follow  him 
and  his  marshals  from  field  to  field  of  Satanic  glory ,2 
finding  everywhere,  from  Spain  to  Russia,  the  same 
carnival  of  woe.  The  picture  is  various,  yet  the  same. 
Suffering,  wounds,  and  death,  in  every  form,  fill  the 
ten-ible  canvas.  What  scene  more  dismal  than  that 
of  Albuera,  with  its  horrid  piles  of  corpses,  while  all 
night  the  rain  pours  down,  and  river,  hill,  and  forest, 

1  Napier,  Book  V.  ch.  3,  Vol.  II.  p.  46. 

2  A  living  poet  of  Italy,  who  will  be  placed  by  his  prose  among  the  great 
names  of  his  country's  literature,  in  a  remarkable  ode  which  he  has  thrown 
on  the  uni  of  Napoleon  invites  posterity  to  judge  whether  his  career  of 
battle  was  True  Glory. 

"  Fu  vera  gloria  ?  Ai  posteri 
L'  ardua  sentenza."  —  Manzoni,  II  Cinque  Maggio. 
When  men  learn  to  appreciate  moral  grandeur,  the  easy  sentence  will  be 
rendered. 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  25 

OD  each  side,  resound  with  the  cries  and  groans  of  the 
dying  ?  ^  What  scene  more  awfully  monumental  than 
Salamanca,  where,  long  after  the  great  battle,  the 
ground,  strewn  with  fragments  of  casques  and  cui- 
rasses, was  still  white  with  the  skeletons  of  those  who 
fell  ?  ^  What  catalogue  of  liorrors  more  complete  than 
the  Eussian  campaign  ?  At  every  step  is  war,  and 
this  is  enough  :  soldiers  black  with  powder ;  bayonets 
bent  with  the  violence  of  the  encounter;  the  earth 
ploughed  with  cannon-shot ;  trees  torn  and  mutilated  ; 
the  dead  and  dying ;  wounds  and  agony  ;  fields  cov- 
ered with  broken  carriages,  outstretched  horses,  and. 
mangled  bodies ;  while  disease,  sad  attendant  on  mili- 
tary suffering,  sweeps  thousands  from  the  great  hos- 
pitals, and  the  multitude  of  amputated  limbs,  which 
there  is  no  time  to  destroy,  accumulate  in  bloody  heaps, 
filling  the  air  with  corruption.  What  tongue,  what  pen, 
can  describe  the  bloody  havoc  at  Borodino,  where, 
between  rise  and  set  of  a  single  sun,  one  hundred 
thousand  of  our  fellow-men,  equalling  in  number  the 
whole  population  of  this  city,  sank  to  earth,  dead  or 
wounded  ?  ^  Fifty  days  after  the  battle,  no  less  than 
thirty  thousand  are  found  stretched  where  tlieir  last 
convulsions  ended,  and  the  whole  plain  is  strewn  with 
haK-buried  carcasses  of  men  and  horses,  intermingled 
with  garments  dyed  in  blood,  and  bones  gnawed  by 
dogs  and  vultures."*  Who  can  follow  the  French  army 
in  dismal  retreat,  avoiding  the  spear  of  the  pursuing 
Cossack  only  to  sink  beneath  the  sharper  frost  and  ice, 

1  Napier,  Book  XII.  ch.  7,  Vol.  III.  p   543. 

2  Alison,  Ch.  64,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  589. 

3  Ibid.,  Ch.  67,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  871. 

4  Ibid.,  Ch.  68,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  930.    S^gur,  Hist,  de  Napoleon,  Liv.  IX.  ch.  7, 
Tom.  II.  p.  153.    Labaume,  Rel.  de  la  Campagne  de  Russie,  Liv.  VII. 


26  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR    OF   NATIONS. 

in  a  temperature  below  zero,  on  foot,  without  shelter  for 
the  body,  famishing  on  horse-ilesh  and  a  miserable  com- 
pound of  rye  and  snow-water  ?  With  a  fresh  array,  the 
war  is  upheld  against  new  forces  under  the  walls  of 
Dresden  ;  and  as  the  Emperor  rides  over  the  field  of 
battle  —  after  indulging  the  night  before  in  royal 
supper  with  the  Saxon  king  —  he  sees  ghastly  new- 
made  graves,  with  hands  and  arms  projecting,  stark 
and  stiff,  above  the  ground ;  and  shortly  afterwards, 
when  shelter  is  needed  for  the  troops,  the  order  to 
occupy  the  Hospitals  for  the  Insane  is  given,  with  the 
words,  "  Turn  out  the  mad."  ^ 

Here  I  might  close  this  scene  of  blood.  But  there 
is  one  other  picture  of  the  atrocious,  though  natural, 
consequences  of  war,  occurring  almost  within  our  own 
day,  that  I  would  not  omit.  Let  me  bring  to  your 
mind  Genoa,  called  the  Superb,  City  of  Palaces,  dear 
to  the  memory  of  American  childhood  as  the  birth- 
place of  Christopher  Columbus,  and  one  of  the  spots 
first  enlightened  by  the  morning  beams  of  civilization, 
whose  merchants  were  princes,  and  whose  rich  argosies, 
in  those  early  days,  introduced  to  Europe  the  choicest 
products  of  the  East,  the  linen  of  Egypt,  the  spices  of 
Arabia,  and  the  silks  of  Samarcand.  She  still  sits  in. 
queenly  pride,  as  she  sat  then,  —  her  mural  crown  stud- 
ded with  towers,  —  her  churches  rich  with  marble  floors 
and  rarest  pictures,  —  her  palaces  of  ancient  doges  and 
admirals  yet  spared  by  the  hand  of  Time,  —  her  close 
streets  thronged  by  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants, 
—  at  the  foot  of  the  Apennines,  as  they  approach 
the  blue  and  tideless  wateys  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 

'  Alison,  Ch.  72,  Vol.  IX.  pp.  469,  553. 


THE  TEUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS.  27 

—  leaning  her  back  against  their  strong  mountain-sides, 
overshadowed  by  the  foliage  of  the  fig-tree  and  the 
olive,  while  the  orange  and  the  lemon  with  pleasant 
perfume  scent  the  air  where  reigns  perpetual  spring. 
Who  can  contemplate  such  a  city  without  delight  ?  Who 
can  listen  to  the  story  of  her  sorrows  without  a  pang  ? 

At  the  opening  of  the  present  century,  the  armies  of 
the  French  Republic,  after  dominating  over  Italy,  were 
driven  from  their  conquests,  and  compelled,  with 
shrunken  forces,  to  find  shelter  under  Massena,  within 
the  walls  of  Genoa.  Various  efforts  were  made  by  the 
Austrian  general,  aided  by  bombardment  from  the  Brit- 
ish fleet,  to  force  the  strong  defences  by  assault.  At 
length  the  city  was  invested  by  a  strict  blockade.  All 
communication  with  the  country  was  cut  off,  while  the 
harbor  was  closed  by  the  ever-wakeful  British  watch- 
dogs of  war.  Besides  the  French  troops,  wathin  the 
beleaguered  and  unfortunate  city  are  the  peaceful,  un- 
offending inhabitants.  Provisions  soon  become  scarce  ; 
scarcity  sharpens  into  want,  till  fell  Famine,  bringing 
blindness  and  madness  in  her  train,  rages  like  an  Erin- 
nys.  Picture  to  yourselves  this  large  population,  not 
pouring  out  their  lives  in  the  exulting  rush  of  battle, 
but  wasting  at  noonday,  daughter  by  the  side  of  moth- 
er, husband  by  the  side  of  wife.  When  grain  and 
rice  fail,  flaxseed,  millet,  cocoa,  and  almonds  are  ground 
by  hand-mills  into  flour,  and  even  bran,  baked  with 
honey,  is  eaten,  less  to  satisfy  than  to  deaden  hunger. 
Before  the  last  extremities,  a  pound  of  horse-flesh  is 
sold  for  thirty-two  cents,  a  pound  of  bran  for  thirty 
cents,  a  pound  of  flour  for  one  dollar  and  seventy-five 
cents.  A  single  bean  is  soon  sold  for  two  cents,  and 
a  biscuit  of  three  ounces  for  two  dollars  and  a  quarter, 


28  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

till  finally  none  can  be  had  at  any  price.  The  wretch- 
ed soldiers,  after  devouring  tlie  horses,  are  reduced  to 
the  degradation  of  feeding  on  dogs,  cats,  rats,  and 
worms,  which  are  eagerly  hunted  in  cellars  and 
sewers.  "Happy  were  now,"  exclaims  an  Italian 
historian,  "  not  those  who  lived,  but  those  who  died ! " 
The  day  is  dreary  from  hunger,  —  the  night  more 
dreary  still,  from  hunger  with  delirious  fancies.  They 
now  turn  to  herbs,  —  dock,  sorrel,  mallows,  wild 
succory.  People  of  every  condition,  witli  women  of 
noble  birth  and  beauty,  seek  upon  the  slope  of  the 
mountain  within  the  defences  those  aliments  which 
Nature  designed  solely  for  beasts.  Scanty  vegetables, 
with  a  scrap  of  clieese,  are  all  that  can  be  afforded  to 
the  sick  and  wounded,  those  sacred  stipendiaries  of 
human  charity.  In  the  last  anguish  of  despair,  men 
and  women  fill  the  air  with  groans  and  shrieks,  some 
in  spasms,  convulsions,  and  contortions,  yielding  their 
expiring  breath  on  the  unpitying  stones  of  the  street,  — 
alas  !  not  more  unpitying  than  man.  Children,  whom 
a  dead  mother's  arms  had  ceased  to  protect,  orphans 
of  an  hour,  with  piercing  cries,  supplicate  in  vain 
the  compassion  of  the  passing  stranger :  none  pity  or 
aid.  The  sweet  fountains  of  sympathy  are  all  closed 
by  tlie  selfishness  of  individual  distress.  In  the  gen- 
eral agony,  some  precipitate  tliemselves  into  the  sea, 
wliile  the  more  impetuous  rush  from  the  gates,  and 
impale  their  bodies  on  the  Austrian  bayonets.  Oth- 
ers still  are  driven  to  devour  tlieir  shoes  and  the 
leather  of  their  pouches  ;  and  the  horror  of  Imman  flesh 
.  so  far  abates,  that  numbers  feed  like  cannibals  on  the 
corpses  about  them.^ 

1  This  account  is  drawn  from   the  animated  sketches  of  Botta  (Storia 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  29 

At  this  stage  the  French  general  capitulated,  claiming 
and  receiving  ^vhat  are  called  "  the  honors  of  war,"  — 
but  not  before  twenty  thousand  innocent  persons,  old 
and  young,  women  and  children,  ha\dng  no  part  or  in- 
terest in  the  contest,  had  died  the  most  horrible  of 
deaths.  The  Austrian  flag  floated  over  captured  Genoa 
but  a  brief  span  of  time ;  for  Bonaparte  had  already 
descended  like  an  eagle  from  the  Alps,  and  in  nine  days 
afterwards,  on  the  plains  of  Marengo,  shattered  the 
Austrian  empire  in  Italy. 

But  wasted  lands,  famished  cities,  and  slaughtered 
armies  are  not  all  that  is  contained  in  "  the  purple  tes- 
tament of  bleeding  war."  Every  soldier  is  connected 
with  others,  as  all  of  you,  by  dear  ties  of  kindred,  love, 
and  friendship.  He  has  been  sternly  summoned  from 
the  embrace  of  family.  To  him  there  is  perhaps  an 
aged  mother,  who  fondly  hoped  to  lean  her  bend- 
ing years  on  his  more  youthful  form ;  perhaps  a  wife, 
whose  life  is  just  entwined  inseparably  with  his,  now 
condemned  to  wasting  despair ;  perhaps  sisters,  brothers. 
As  he  falls  on  the  field  of  war,  must  not  all  these  rush 
with  his  blood  ?    But  who  can  measure  the  distress  that 

d'  Italia  dal  1789  al  1814,  Tom.  HI.  Lib.  19),  Alison  (History  of  Europe, 
Vol.  IV.  ch.  30),  and  Arnold  (Modem  History,  Lect.  IV.).  The  humanity 
of  the  last  is  particularly  aroused  to  condemn  this  most  atrocious  murder  of 
innocent  people,  and,  as  a  sufficient  remedy,  he  suggests  a  modification  of 
the  Laws  of  War,  pemiitting  non-combatants  to  withdraw  from  a  block- 
aded town !  In  this  way,  indeed,  they  may  be  spared  a  languishing  death  by 
starvation;  but  they  must  desert  firesides,  pursuits,  all  that  makes  life  dear, 
and  become  homeless  exiles,  —  a  fate  little  better  than  the  former.  It  is 
strange  that  Arnold's  pure  soul  and  clear  judgment  did  not  recognize  the 
truth,  that  the  whole  custom  of  war  is  unrighteous  and  unlawful,  and  that 
the  horrors  of  this  siege  are  its  natural  consequence.  Laws  of  War!  Laws 
in  what  is  lawless !  rules  of  wrong!  There  can  be  only  one  Law  of  War, — 
that  is,  the  great  law  which  pronounces  it  unwise,  unjust,  and  unclu'istian. 


30  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATION'S. 

radiates  as  from  a  bloody  sun,  penetrating  innumerable 
homes  ?  Who  can  give  the  gauge  and  dimensions  of 
this  infinite  sorrow  ?  Tell  me,  ye  who  feel  the  bitter- 
ness of  parting  with  dear  friends  and  kindred,  whom  you 
watch  tenderly  till  the  last  golden  sands  are  run  out  and 
the  great  hour-glass  is  turned,  what  is  the  measure  of 
your  anguish  ?  Your  friend  departs,  soothed  by  kind- 
ness and  in  the  arms  of  Love :  the  soldier  gasps  out  his 
life  with  no  friend  near,  while  the  scowl  of  Hate  dark- 
ens all  that  he  beholds,  darkens  his  own  departing  soul. 
Who  can  forget  the  anguish  that  fills  the  bosom  and 
crazes  the  brain  of  Lenore,  in  the  matchless  ballad  of 
Biirger,  when  seeking  in  vain  among  returning  squad- 
rons for  her  lover  left  dead  on  Prague's  ensanguined 
plain  ?  But  every  field  of  blood  has  many  Lenores.  All 
war  is  full  of  desolate  homes,  as  is  vividly  pictured  by 
a  master  poet  of  antiquity,  whose  verse  is  an  argument. 

"  But  through  the  bounds  of  Grecia's  land. 
Who  sent  her  sons  for  Troy  to  part, 
See  mourning,  with  much  suffering  heart. 
On  each  man's  threshold  stand, 
On  each  sad  hearth  in  Grecia's  land. 
Well  may  her  soul  with  grief  be  rent; 
She  well  remembers  whom  she  sent. 
She  sees  them  uot  return : 
Instead  of  men,  to  each  man's  home 
Urns  and  ashes  only  come. 
And  the  armor  which  thev  wore,  — 
Sad  relics  to  their  native  shore 
For  Mars,  the  barterer  of  the  lifeless  clay, 
Who  ^ells  for  gold  the  slam, 
And  liohh  the  scale,  in  battle's  doubtful  day, 
JJifjh  balanced  o'er  the  plain. 
From  Ilium's  walls  for  men  returns 
Ashes  and  sepulchral  urns,  — 
Ashes  wet  with  many  a  tear. 
Sad  relics  of  the  fiery  bier. 
Round  the  full  urns  the  general  groan 
Goes,  as  each  their  kindred  own: 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  31 

One  they  tnourn  in  battle  strong, 
And  one  that  'mid  the  armed  throng 
He  sunk  in  glory's  slaughtering  tide, 
And  for  another's  consort  died. 

Others  they  mourn  whose  monuments  stand 
By  Ilium's  walls  on  foreign  strand ; 
Where  they  fell  in  beauty's  bloom, 
There  they  lie  in  hated  tomb, 
Sunk  beneath  the  massy  mound, 
In  eternal  chambers  bound."  ^ 


III. 


^But  all  these  miseries  are  to  do  purpose^_  War  is 
.utterlyTneffbctual_^to  secure  or  advance  its  professed 
pb[ect!  The  wretchedness  it  entails  contributes  to  no 
end,  helps  to  establish  no  right,  and  therefore  in  no  re- 
"spect  determines  justice  between  the  contending  nations. 
The  fruitlessness  and  vanity  of  war  appear  in  the 
great  conflicts  by  which  the  world  has  been  lacerated. 
After  long  struggle,  where  each  nation  inflicts  and  re- 
ceives incalculable  injury,  peace  is  gladly  obtained  on 
the  basis  of  the  condition  before  the  war,  known  as  the 
status  ante  helium.  I  cannot  illustrate  this  futility  bet- 
ter than  by  the  familiar  example  —  humiliating  to  both 
countries  —  of  our  last  war  with  Great  Britain,  where 
the  professed  object  was  to  obtain  a  renunciation  of 
the  British  claim,  so  defiantly  asserted,  to  impress  our 
seamen.  To  overturn  this  injustice  the  Arbitrament 
of  War  was  invoked,  and  for  nearly  three  years  the 
Avhole  country  was  under  its  terrible  ban.  Ameri- 
can  commerce   was    driven    from    the   seas ;    the   re- 

1  Agamemnon  of  .Eschylus:   Cliorus.     This  is  from  the  bf?a,utifiAl  transla- 
tion bv  John  Symmous. 


32  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR    OF   NATIONS. 

sources  of  the  land  were  drained  by  taxation ;  villages 
on  the  Canadian  frontier  were  laid  in  ashes ;  the  me- 
tropolis of  the  Eepublic  was  captured ;  while  distress 
was  everywhere  within  our  borders.  Weary  at  last 
with  this  rude  trial,  the  National  Government  appointed 
commissioners  to  treat  for  peace,  with  these  specific  in- 
structions :  "  Your  first  duty  will  be  to  conclude  a  peace 
with  Great  Britain  ;  and  you  are  authorized  to  do  it,  in 
case  you  obtain  a  satisfactory  stipulation  against  im- 
pressment, one  which  shall  secure  under  our  flag  protec- 
tion to  the  crew If  this  encroachment  of  Great 

Britain  is  not  provided  against,  t/ie  United  States  have 
appealed  to  arms  in  vain."  ^  Afterwards,  finding  small 
chance  of  extorting  from  Great  Britain  a  relinquishment 
of  the  unrighteous  claim,  and  foreseeing  from  the  invet- 
erate prosecution  of  the  war  only  an  accumulation  of 
calamities,  the  National  Government  directed  the  nego- 
tiators, in  concluding  a  treaty,  to  "  omit  any  stipulation 
on  the  subject  of  impressment."  ^  These  instructions  were 
obeyed,  and  the  treaty  that  restored  to  us  once  more 
the  blessings  of  peace,  so  rashly  cast  away,  but  now 
hailed  with  intoxication  of  joy,  contained  no  allusion 
to  impressment,  nor  did  it  provide  for  the  surrender 
of  a  single  American  sailor  detained  in  the  British 
navj.  Thus,  by  the  confession  of  our  own  Govern- 
ment, "the  United  States  had  appealed  to  arms  IN 
VAIN."  ^  These  important  words  are  not  mine ;  they 
are  words  of  the  country. 

1  Mr.  Monroe  to  Commissioners,  April  15,  1813:  American  State  Papers, 
Vol.  Vm.  pp.  577,578. 

2  Mr.  Monroe  to  Commissioners,  Juno  27,  1814  :  Ibid.,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  593. 

3  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  more  than  one  letter,  declares  the  peace  an  armistice 
only,  "  because  no  security  is  provided  against  the  impressment  of  our 
seamen."  —  Letter  to  Crawford,  Feb.  11,  1815;  to  Lafayette,  Feb.  14,  1815; 
Works,  Vol.  VI.  pp.  420,  427. 


THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  33 

All  this  is  the  natural  result  of  an  appeal  to  war  for 
the  determination  of  justice.  Justice  implies  the  exer- 
cise of  the  judgment.  Now  war  not  only  supersedes 
the  judgment,  but  delivers  over  the  pending  question  to 
superiority  of  force,  or  to  chance. 

Superior  force  may  end  in  conquest ;  this  is  the  nat- 
ural consequence ;  but  it  cannot  adjudicate  any  right. 
We  expose  the  absurdity  of  its  arbitrament,  when,  by  a 
familiar  phrase  of  sarcasm,  we  deride  the  right  of  the 
strongest,  —  excluding,  of  course,  all  idea  of  right,  ex- 
cept that  of  the  lion  as  he  springs  upon  a  weaker  beast, 
of  the  wolf  as  he  tears  in  pieces  the  lamb,  of  the  vul- 
ture as  he  devours  the  dove.  The  grossest  sj)irits  must 
admit  that  this  is  not  justice. 

But  the  battle  is  not  always  to  the  strong.  Superior- 
ity of  force  is  often  checked  by  the  proverbial  contin- 
gencies of  war.  Esj^ecially  are  such  contingencies  re- 
vealed in  rankest  absurdity,  where  nations,  as  is  the 
acknowledged  custom,  without  regard  to  their  respective 
forces,  whether  weaker  or  stronger,  voluntarily  appeal 
to  this  mad  umpirage.  Who  beforehand  can  measure 
the  currents  of  the  heady  fight  ?  In  common  language, 
we  confess  the  "  chances  "  of  battle  ;  and  soldiers  devoted 
to  this  harsh  vocation  yet  call  it  a  "  game."  The  Great 
Captain  of  our  age,  who  seemed  to  drag  victory  at  his 
chariot-wheels,  in  a  formal  address  to  his  officers,  on 
entering  Eussia,  says,  "  In  war,  fortune  has  an  equal 
share  with  ability  in  success."  ^  The  famous  victory  of 
Marengo,  accident  of  an  accident,  wrested  unexpectedly 
at  close  of  day  from  a  foe  at  an  earlier  hour  success- 
ful, taught  him  the  uncertainty  of  war.  Afterwards, 
in  bitterness  of  spirit,  when  his  immense  forces  were 

1  Alison,  Ch.  67,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  815. 


34  THE   TKUE   GKANDEUli   OF   NATIONS. 

shivered,  and  his  triumphant  eagles  driven  back  with 
broken  wing,  lie  exclaimed,  in  that  remarkable  con- 
versation recorded  by  his  secretary.  Fain,  —  "  ^^'ell,  this 
is  War !  High  in  the  morning,  —  low  enough  at  night ! 
From  a  triumph  to  a  fall  is  often  but  a  step."  ^  The 
same  sentiment  is  repeated  by  the  military  historian  of 
the  Peninsular  campaigns,  when  he  says,  "  Fortune  al- 
ways asserts  her  supremacy  in  war;  and  often  from 
a  sliglit  mistake  such  disastrous  consequences  tluw, 
that,  in  every  age  and  every  nation,  the  tmcertainty 
of  arms  has  been  proverbial."  ^  And  again,  in  another 
place,  considering  the  conduct  of  Wellington,  the  same 
military  historian,  wlio  is  an  unquestionable  authority, 
confesses,  "  A  few  liours'  delay,  an  accident,  a  turn  of 
fortune,  and  he  would  have  been  foiled.  Ay !  but  this 
is  War,  always  dangerous  and  vnccrtain,  an  ever-rolling 
wheel,  and  armed  with  scythes."  ^  And  will  intelligent 
man  look  for  justice  to  an  e\'er-rolliug  wheel  armed 
with  scythes  ? 

Chance  is  A\Titten  on  every  liattle-field.  Discerned 
less  in  tlie  conflict  of  large  masses  tlian  in  that  of  in- 
dividuals, it  is  equally  present  in  l)otli.  How  capri- 
ciously the  wlieel  turned  when  the  fortunes  of  Rome 
were  staked  on  the  combat  between  the  Horatii  and 
Curiatii  !  —  and  wlio,  at  one  time,  augured  that  tlie 
single  Horatius,  with  two  slain  brothers  on  the  held, 
would  o^•erpower  the  three  living  enemies  ?  But  this 
is  not  alone.  In  all  the  combats  of  history,  involving 
the  fate  of  individuals  or  nations,  we  learn  to  revolt  at 
the  frenzy  which  carries  questions  of  property,  freedom, 
or  life  to  a  judgment  so  uncertain  and  senseless.  The 
liumorous  poet  fitly  exposes  its  hazards,  when  he  says,  — 

1  Alison,  Ch.  72,  Vol.  IX.  p.  497. 

2  Niipier,  Book  XXIV.  ch.  6,  Vol.  VI.  p.  687. 

3  Ibid..  Book  XVI   ch.  7,  Vol.  IV   p.  476. 


THE   TRUE    GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  35 

"  that  a  turnstile  is  more  certain 
Than,  in  events  of  war,  Dame  Fortune."  ^ 

During  the  early  modern  centuries,  and  especially  in 
the  moral  night  of  the  Dark  Ages,  the  practice  prevailed 
extensively  throughout  Europe  of  invoking  this  adju- 
dication for  controversies,  wliether  of  individuals  or 
communities.  I  do  not  dwell  on  the  custom  of  Private 
War,  though  it  aptly  illustrates  the  subject,  stopping 
merely  to  echo  that  joy  which,  in  a  time  of  igno- 
rance, before  this  arbitrament  yielded  gradually  to  the 
ordinances  of  monarchs  and  an  advancing  civiliza- 
tion, hailed  its  temporary  suspension  as  The  Truce  of 
God.  But  this  beautiful  term,  most  suggestive,  and  his- 
torically important,  cannot  pass  without  the  attention 
which  belongs  to  it.  Such  a  truce  is  still  an  example, 
and  also  an  argument ;  but  it  is  for  nations.  Here  is 
something  to  be  imitated  ;  and  here  also  is  an  appeal  to 
the  reason.  If  individuals  or  communities  once  rec- 
ognized the  Truce  of  God,  why  not  again  ?  And  why 
may  not  its  benediction  descend  upon  nations  also  ?  Its 
origin  goes  back  to  the  darkest  night.  It  was  in  1032 
that  the  Bishop  of  Aquitaine  announced  the  appear- 
ance of  an  angel  with  a  message  from  Heaven,  engag- 
ing men  to  cease  from  war  and  be  reconciled.  The 
people,  already  softened  by  calamity  and  disposed  to 
supernatural  impressions,  hearkened  to  the  sublime  mes- 
sage, and  consented.  From  sunset  Thursday  to  sunrise 
Monday  each  week,  also  during  Advent  and  Lent,  and 
at  the  great  festivals,  all  effusion  of  blood  was  inter- 
dicted, and  no  man  could  molest  his  adversary.  Women, 
children,  travellers,  merchants,  laborers,  were  assured 
perpetual  peace.     Every  church  was  made  an  asylum, 

1  Hudibras,  Part  I.  Canto  3,  vv.  23,  24. 


36  THE   TEUE   GRANDEUR    OF   NATIONS. 

and,  by  liaj)py  association,  the  plough  also  sheltered 
from  peril  all  who  came  to  it.  This  respite,  justly 
regarded  as  marvellous,  was  hailed  as  the  Truce  of  God. 
Beginning  in  one  neighborhood,  it  was  piously  extended 
until  it  embraced  the  wliole  kingdom,  and  then,  by  the 
authority  of  the  Pope,  became  coextensive  with  Chris- 
tendom, while  those  who  violated  it  were  put  under 
solemn  ban.  As  these  things  passed,  bishops  lifted  their 
crosses,  and  the  people  in  their  gladness  cried.  Peace  ! 
Peace. !  ^  Originally  too  limited  in  operation  and  too 
short  in  duration,  the  Truce  of  God  must  again  be  pro- 
claimed for  all  places  and  all  times,  —  proclaimed  to  all 
mankind  and  all  nations,  without  distinction  of  person 
or  calling,  on  all  days  of  the  week,  without  distinction 
of  sacred  days  or  festivals,  and  with  one  universal 
asylum,  not  merely  the  church  and  the  plough,  but 
every  place  and  thing. 

From  Private  "Wars,  wliose  best  lesson  is  the  Truce  of 
God,  by  which  for  a  time  tliey  were  hushed,  I  come  to 
the  Judicial  Combat,  or  Trial  by  Battle,  where,  as  in  a 
mirror,  we  behold  the  barbarism  of  War,  without  truce 
of  any  kind.  Trial  by  Battle  was  a  formal  and  legiti- 
mate mode  of  deciding  controversies,  principally  be- 
tween individuals.  Like  other  ordeals,  by  walking 
barefoot  and  blindfold  among  burning  ploiiglishares, 
by  holding  hot  iron,  ])y  dipping  the  liand  in  hot  water 
or  liot  oil,  and  like  the  great  Ordeal  of  War,  it  wiis 
a  presumptuous  appeal  to  Providence,  under  the  ap- 
prehension and  liope  that  Heaven  would  give  the  vic- 
tory to  liim  wlio   had   tlie  riglit.     Its  object  was   the 

1  Robertson,  Hist,  of  Charles  V.,  Vol.  I.  note  21.     Semichon,  La  Paix  et 
la  Treve  de  Dieu,  Tom.  H.  pp.  35,  53. 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  37 

very  object  of  War,  —  the  determination  of  Justice. 
It  was  sanctioned  by  Municipal  Law  as  an  arbitrament 
for  individuals,  as  War,  to  the  scandal  of  civiKzation 
is  still  sanctioned  by  International  Law  as  an  arbitra- 
ment for  nations.  "Men,"  says  the  brilliant  French- 
man, Montesquieu,  "  subject  even  their  prejudices  to 
rules  "  ;  and  Trial  by  Battle,  which  he  does  not  hesitate 
to  denounce  as  a  "monstrous  usage,"  was  surrounded  by 
artificial  regulations  of  multifarious  detail,  constituting 
an  extensive  system,  determining  how  and  when  it 
should  be  waged,  as  War  is  surrounded  by  a  complex 
code,  known  as  the  Laws  of  War.  "  Nothing,"  says 
Montesquieu  again,  "  could  be  more  contrary  to  good 
sense,  but,  once  established,  it  was  executed  with  a  cer- 
tain prudence,"  —  which  is  equally  true  of  War.  No 
battle-field  for  an  army  is  selected  with  more  care  than 
was  the  field  for  Trial  by  Battle.  An  open  space  in  the 
neighborhood  of  a  church  was  often  reserved  for  this 
purpose.  At  the  famous  Abbey  of  Saint-Germain-des- 
Pres,  in  Paris,  there  was  a  tribune  for  the  judges,  over- 
looking the  adjoining  meadow,  which  served  for  the 
field.i  The  combat  was  inaugurated  by  a  solemn  mass, 
according  to  a  form  stiU  preserved,  Missa  pro  Duello,  so 
that,  in  ceremonial  and  sanction,  as  in  the  field,  the 
Church  was  constantly  present.  Champions  were  hired, 
as  soldiers  now.^ 

No  question  was  too  sacred,  grave,  or  recondite  for  this 

1  Sismondi,  Hist,  des  FranQais,  Part.  V.  ch.  9,  Tom.  X.  p.  514. 

2  The  pivotal  character  of  Trial  by  Rattle,  as  an  illustration  of  War,  will 
justify  a  reference  to  the  modern  authorities,  among  which  are  Robertson, 
who  treats  it  with  perspicuity  and  fulness  (History  of  Charles  V.,  Vol.  I. 
note  22),  —  Hallam,  always  instructive  (Middle  Ages,  Vol.  I.  Chap.  II.  pt.  2), 
—  Blackstone.  always  clear  (Commentaries,  Book  III.  ch.  22,  sec.  5,  and 
Book  IV.  ch.  27,  sec.  3),  —  Montesquieu,  who  casts  upon  it  a  flood  of 


o>fi  r<i:\Vkf\ 


38  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

tril  )unal.  In  France,  the  title  of  an  Abbey  to  a  neigh- 
boring church  was  decided  by  it;  and  an  Emperor  of 
Germany,  accorcUng  to  a  faithful  ecclesiastic,  "desir- 
ous of  dealing  honorahly  with  his  people  and  nobles  " 
(mark  here  the  standard  of  honor  !),  waived  the  judgment 
of  the  court  on  a  grave  question  of  law  concerning  the 
descent  of  property,  and  referred  it  to  champions.  Hu- 
man folly  did  not  stop  here.  In  Spain,  a  subtile  point 
of  theology  was  submitted  to  the  same  determination.^ 
But  Trial  by  Battle  was  not  confined  to  particular  coun- 
tries or  to  rare  occasions.  It  prevailed  everywhere  in 
Europe,  superseding  in  many  places  all  other  ordeals, 
and  even  Trials  hy  Proofs,  while  it  extended  not  only  to 
criminal  matters,  but  to  questions  of  property.  In  Or- 
leans it  had  an  exceptional  limitation,  being  denied  in 
civil  matters  where  the  amount  did  not  exceed  five  sous.^ 
Like  AVar  in  our  day,  its  justice  and  fitness  as  an 
arbitrament  were  early  doubted  or  condemned.  Liut- 
prand,  a  king  of  the  Lombards,  during  that  middle  period 
neither  ancient  nor  modern,  in  a  law  bearinfj  date  A.  D. 

light  (Esprit  des  Lois,  Liv.  XXVIII.  ch.  18-23),— Sismon<li,  humane  and 
interesting  (Histoire  des  Fninvais,  Part.  IV.  ch.  11,  Tom.  VIII.  pp. 
72  -  78),  —  Guizot,  HI  a  work  of  remarkable  historic  beauty,  more  grave  than 
Montesquieu,  and  enlightened  by  a  better  philosophy  (Histoire  de  la  Civili- 
sation en  France  depuis  la  Chute  dc  I'Empire  Romani,  Tom.  IV.  pp.  89, 149  - 
166),  — Whcaton,  our  learned  countryman  (History  of  the  Northmen,  Chap. 
111.  and  XII.), —  also  the  two  volumes  of  MUlingen's  History  of  Duelling,  if 
so  loose  a  compend  deserves  a  place  in  this  list.  All  these,  describing 
I  rial  by  Battle,  testify  against  War.  I  cainiot  conceal  that  so  great  an  au- 
thority as  Selden,  a  most  enlightened  jurist  of  the  Long  Parliament,  argues 
the  lawfulness  of  the  Duel  from  the  lawfulness  of  War.  After  setting 
forth  that  "  a  duel  may  be  granted  in  some  cases  by  the  law  of  England," 
he  asks,  "  But  whether  is  this  lawful?"  and  then  answers,  "//"  »/f)?<  firnnt 
nny  war  lawful,  I  make  no  doubt  but  to  convince  it."  (Table-Talk:  Duel.) 
But  if  the  Duel  be  unlawful,  how  then  with  War? 

1  Robertson,  Hist.  Charles  V.,  Vol.  I  note  22. 

•^  Montesquieu,  Esprit  des  Lois,  Liv.  XXVIII.  ch.  19. 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  39 

724,  declares  his  distrust  of  it  as  a  mode  of  determin- 
ing justice  ;  but  the  monarch  is  compelled  to  add,  that, 
considering  the  custom  of  his  Lombard  people,  he  can- 
not forbid  the  iinpious  law.  His  words  deserve  em- 
phatic mention  :  "  Proioter  consuetudinem  gentis  nostrce 
Langobardorum  LEGEM  IMPIAM  vetare  non  i^ossumus.."  ^ 
The  appropriate  epithet  by  which  he  branded  Trial  by 
Battle  is  the  important  bequest  of  the  royal  Lombard  to 
a  distant  posterity.  For  this  the  lawgiver  will  be  cher- 
ished with  grateful  regard  in  the  annals  of  civilization. 

This  custom  received  another  blow  from  Rome.  In 
the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Don  Pedro 
of  Aragon,  after  exchanging  letters  of  defiance  with 
Charles  of  Anjou,  proposed  a  personal  combat,  which 
was  accepted,  on  condition  that  Sicily  should  be  the 
prize  of  success.  Each  called  down  upon  himself  all 
the  vengeance  of  Heaven,  and  the  last  dishonor,  if,  at 
the  appointed  time,  he  failed  to  appear  before  the  Sen- 
eschal of  Aquitaine,  or,  in  case  of  defeat,  refused  to 
consign  Sicily  undisturbed  to  the  victor.  While  they 
were  preparing  for  the  lists,  the  Pope,  Martin  the 
Fourth,  protested  with  all  his  might  against  this  new 
Trial  by  Battle,  which  staked  tlie  sovereignty  of  a 
kingdom,  a  feudatory  of  the  Holy  See,  on  a  wild  stroke 
of  chance.  By  a  papal  bull,  dated  at  Civita  Vecchia, 
April  5th,  1283,  he  threatened  excommunication  to 
either  of  the  princes  who  should  proceed  to  a  combat 
which  he  pronounced  criminal  and  abominable.  By  a 
letter  of  the  same  date,  the  Pope  announced  to  Edward 
the  First  of  England,  Duke  of  Aquitaine,  the  agreement 
of  the  two  princes,  which  he  most  earnestly  declared  to 

1  Liutprandi  Leges,  Lib.  VI.  cap.  65  :  Muratori,  Reruiii  Italic.  Script., 
Tom.  I.  pars  2,  p.  74. 


40  THE   TRUE   GR.VNDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

be  full  of  indecency  and  rashness,  hostile  to  the  con- 
cord of  Christendom,  and  reckless  of  Christian  blood ; 
and  he  urged  upon  the  English  monarch  all  possible 
effort  to  prevent  the  combat,  —  menacing  him  with  ex- 
communication, and  his  territories  with  interdict,  if  it 
should  take  place.  Edward  rei'using  to  guaranty  the 
safety  of  the  combatants  in  Aquitaine,  the  parties  re- 
tired without  consunnnating  their  duel.^  The  judgment 
of  the  Holy  See,  which  thus  accomplished  its  immedi- 
ate object,  though  not  in  teiins  directed  to  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  custom,  remains,  nevertheless,  from  its  peculiar 
energy,  a  perpetual  testimony  against  Trial  by  Battle. 

To  a  monarch  of  France  belongs  the  honor  of  first 
interposing  the  royal  authority  for  the  entire  suppres- 
sion within  his  jurisdiction  of  this  ijiipious  custom,  so 
universally  adopted,  so  dear  to  the  nobility,  and  so  pro- 
foundly rooted  in  the  institutions  of  the  Feudal  Age. 
And  here  let  me  pause  with  reverence  as  I  pronounce  the 
name  of  St.  Louis,  a  prince  whose  unenlightened  errors 
may  find  easy  condemnation  in  an  age  of  larger  tolera- 
tion and  wider  knowledge,  but  whose  firm  and  upright 
soul,  exalted  sense  of  justice,  fatherly  regard  for  the 
happiness  of  his  people,  respect  for  the  rights  of  others, 
conscience  void  of  offence  toward  God  or  man,  make 
him  foremost  among  Christian  rulers,  and  tlie  highest 
example  for  Christian  prince  or  Christian  people,  —  in 
one  word,  a  model  of  True  Greatness.  He  was  of 
angelic  conscience,  subjecting  whatever  lie  did  to  the 
single  and  exclusive  test  of  moral  rectitude,  disregard- 
ing every  consideration  of  worldly  advantage,  all  fear 
of  worldly  consequences. 

1  Sismondi,  Hist,  ties  Fran9ais,  Part.  IV.  ch.  15,  Tom.  VHI.  pp.  338-347. 


THE   TKUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  41 

His  soul,  thus  tremblingly  sensitive  to  right,  was 
shocked  at  the  judicial  combat.  It  was  a  sin,  in  his 
sight,  thus  to  tem2ot  God,  by  demanding  of  him  a  mira- 
cle, whenever  judgment  was  pronounced.  From  these 
intimate  convictions  sprang  a  royal  ordinance,  promul- 
gated first  at  a  Parliament  assembled  in  1260 :  "  We 
forbid  to  all  persons  throughout  our  dominions  the  Trial 
BY   Battle;  ....  and  instead  of  battles,  %oe   establish 

proofs    bjj    witnesses And    these    battles    we 

abolish  in  our  dominions  forever."  1 

Such  were  the  restraints  on  the  royal  authority,  that 
this  beneficent  ordinance  was  confined  in  operation  to 
the  demesnes  of  the  king,  not  embracing  those  of  the 
barons  and  feudatories.  But  where  the  power  of  the 
sovereign  did  not  reach,  there  he  labored  by  example, 
influence,  and  express  intercession,  —  treating  with  the 
great  vassals,  and  inducing  many  to  renounce  this  un- 
natural usage.  Though  for  years  later  it  continued  to 
vex  parts  of  France,  its  overthrow  commenced  with  the 
Ordinance  of  St.  Louis. 

Honor  and  blessings  attend  this  truly  Christian  king, 
who  submitted  all  his  actions  to  the  Heaven-descended 
sentiment  of  Duty,  —  who  began  a  long  and  illustrious 
reign  by  renouncing  and  restoring  conquests  of  his  pre- 
decessor, saying  to  those  about  him,  whose  souls  did  not 
ascend  to  his  heights,  "  I  know  that  the  predecessors  of 
the  King  of  England  lost  altogether  by  right  the  con- 
quest which  I  hold ;  and  the  land  which  I  give  him 
I  do  not  give  because  I  am  bound  to  him  or  his  heirs, 
but  to  put  love  betioecn  my  children  and  his  children,  who 
are  cousins-german ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  what  I 

1  Guizot,  Hist,  de  la  Civilisation  en  France,  Lecjon  14,  Vol.  IV.  pp. 
162  -  164. 


42  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

thus  give  I  employ  to  good  purpose."  ^  Honor  to  him 
who  never  by  force  or  cunning  grasped  what  was  not 
his  own,  —  who  sought  no  advantage  from  the  tm-moil 
and  dissension  of  his  neighbors,  —  who,  first  of  Chris- 
tian princes,  rebuked  the  Spirit  of  War,  saying  to  those 
who  would  have  him  profit  by  the  strifes  of  others, 
"  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers,"  ^  —  who,  by  an  immor- 
tal ordinance,  abolished  Trial  by  Battle  throughout  his 
dominions,  —  who  extended  equal  justice  to  all,  whether 
his  own  people  or  his  neighbors,  and  in  the  extremity  of 
his  last  illness,  before  the  walls  of  Tunis,  under  a  burn- 
ing African  sun,  among  the  bequests  of  his  spirit,  en- 
joined on  his  son  and  successor,  "in  maintaining  justice, 
to  be  inflexible  and  loyal,  turning  neither  to  the  right 
hand  nor  to  the  left."^ 

To  condemn  Trial  by  Battle  no  longer  requires  the 
sagacity  above  his  age  of  the  Lom])ard  monarch,  or 
the  intrepid  judgment  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  or  the 
ecstatic  soul  of  St.  Louis.  An  incident  of  history,  as 
curious  as  it  is  authentic,  illustrates  this  point,  and 
shows  the  certain  progress  of  opinion ;  and  this  brings 
me  to  England,  where  this  trial  was  an  undoubted  part  of 
the  early  Common  Law,  with  peculiar  ceremonies  sanc- 
tioned by  the  judges  robed  in  scarlet.  The  learned 
Selden,  not  content  with  tracing  its  origin,  and  exhib- 
iting its  forms,  with  the  oath  of  the  duellist,  "  As  God  me 
help,  and  his  saints  of  Paradise,"  shows  also  the  copart- 
nership of  the  Church  through  its  liturgy  appointing 
prayers  for  the  occasion.*     For  some  time  it  was  the 

^  Guizot,  Hist,  de  la  Civilisation  en  France,  Le^on  14,  Vol.  IV.  p.  151. 

2  "  Btnuisl  soitul  tuU  it  apaistur.  "  —  .loinville,  p.  143. 

*>  Sismondi,  Hi^^t.  des  Francais,  Part.  IV.  oh.  12,  Tom.  VIII.  p.  196. 

^  Selden,  The  Duello,  or  Single  Combat,  from  Antiquity  derived  into  this 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  43 

only  mode  of  trying  a  writ  of  right,  by  wliicli  the  title 
to  real  property  was  determined,  and  the  fines  from 
the  numerous  cases  formed  no  inconsiderable  portion  of 
the  King's  revenue.^  It  was  partially  restrained  by 
Henry  the  Second,  under  the  advice  of  his  cliief  jus- 
ticiary, the  ancient  law-writer,  Glanville,  substituting 
the  Grand  Assize  as  an  alternative,  on  the  trial  of  a 
writ  of  right ;  and  the  reason  assigned  for  this  substitu- 
tion was  the  uncertainty  of  the  Duel,  so  that  after  many 
and  long  delays  justice  was  scarcely  obtained,  in  con- 
trast with  the  other  trial,  which  was  more  convenient 
and  swift.2  At  a  later  day.  Trial  by  Battle  was  re- 
buked by  Elizabeth,  who  interposed  to  compel  the  par- 
ties to  a  composition,  —  although,  for  the  sake  of  their 
lionor,  as  it  was  called,  the  lists  were  marked  out  and 
all  the  preliminary  forms  observed  with  much  cere- 
mony.^ It  was  awarded  under  Charles  the  First,  and 
the  proceeding  went  so  far  that  a  day  was  proclaimed 
for  the  combatants  to  appear  with  spear,  long  sword, 
short  sword,  and  dagger,  when  the  duel  was  adjourned 
from  time  to  time,  and  at  last  the  king  compelled 
an  accommodation  without  bloodshed.'^     Though  fallen 


Kingdom  of  England;  also,  Table  Talk,  Duel:  Works,  Vol.  III.  col.  49-84, 
2027. 

1  Madox,  Hist,  of  Exchequer,  Vol.  I.  p.  349. 

2  "  PLst  autem  magna  Assisa  regale  quoddam  beneficium,  ....  quo  vitse 
hominura  et  status  integritati  tam  salubriter  consulitur,  ut  in  jure  quod  quis 
in  libero  soli  tenemento  possidet  retinendo,  duelli  casum  declinare  possunt 

honiinas  ambiguum Jus  enim,  qiml  post  multns  et  longas  dilatkmes  vix 

evincitur  per  chiellum,  per  beneficium  istius  coiistitutionis  commodius  et  ac- 
celeratius  expeditur."  (Glanville,  Tractatus  de  Leglbus  et  Consuetudinibus 
Regni  Anglise,  Lib.  II.  cap.  7.)  These  pointed  words  are  precisely  applica- 
ble to  our  Arbitrament  of  War,  with  its  many  and  long  delays,  so  little 
productive  of  justice. 

3  Robertson,  Hist.  Charles  V.,  Vol.  I.  note  22. 

*  Proceedings  in  the  Court  of  Chivalry,  on  an  Appeal  of  High  Treason  by 


44  THE   TKUE   GEANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

into  desuetude,  quietly  overruled  by  the  enlightened 
sense  of  successive  generations,  yet,  to  the  disgrace  of 
English  jurisprudence,  it  was  not  legislatively  abol- 
ished till  near  our  own  day, —  as  late  as  1819, — 
the  right  to  it  having  been  openly  claimed  in  West- 
minster Hall  only  two  years  previous.  An  ignorant 
man,  charged  with  murder,  —  whose  name,  Abraham 
Thornton,  is  necessarily  connected  with  the  history  of 
this  monstrous  usage,  —  being  proceeded  against  by 
the  ancient  process  of  appeal,  pleaded,  when  brought 
into  court,  as  follows  :  "  Not  gudty ;  and  I  am  ready  to 
defend  the  same  by  my  body  " :  and  thereupon  taking 
off  his  glove,  he  threw  it  upon  the  floor.  The  appellant, 
not  choosing  to  accept  this  challenge,  abandoned  his 
proceedings.  The  bench,  the  bar,  and  the  whole  king- 
dom were  startled  by  the  infamy ;  and  at  the  next  ses- 
sion of  Parliament  Trial  by  Battle  was  abolished  in 
England.  In  the  debate  on  this  subject,  the  Attorney- 
General  remarked,  in  appropriate  terms,  that,  "  if  the 
appellant  had  persevered  in  the  Trial  by  Battle,  he 
had  no  doubt  the  legislature  would  have  felt  it  their 
imperious  duty  at  once  to  interfere,  and  pass  an  ex  post 
facto  law  to  prevent  so  degrading  a  spectacle  from  taking 
place."  ^ 

These  words  evince  the  disgust  which  Trial  by  Bat- 
tle excites  in  our  day.  Its  folly  and  wickedness  are  con- 
spicuous to  all.  Reverting  to  tliat  early  period  in  wiiich 
it  prevailed,  our  minds  are  impressed  by  the  general  bar- 
barism ;  we  recoil  with  horror  from  the  awful  subjection 
of  justice  to  brute  force,  —  from  the  impious  profanation 

Donald  Lord  Rea  against  Mr.  David  Ramsay,  7  Cha.  I.,  1631  :  Hargrave's 
State  Trials,  Vol.  XI.  pp.  124-131. 

'  Hansard,    Pari.  Debates,   XXXIX.    1104.    Blackstone,  Com.,  III.   33r 
Chitty's  note. 


THE   TKUE   GEANDEUR   OF  NATIONS.  45 

of  God  in  deeming  him  present  at  these  outrages, — 
from  the  moral  degradation  out  of  wliich  they  sprang, 
and  which  tliey  perpetuated;  we  enrobe  ourselves  in 
self-complacent  vii^tue,  and  thank  God  that  we  are  not 
as  these  men,  —  that  ours  is  an  age  of  light,  while  theirs 
was  an  age  of  darkness  ! 

But  remember,  fellow-citizens,  that  this  criminal  and 
impious  custom,  which  all  condenui  in  the  case  of  in- 
dividuals, is  openly  avowed  by  our  own  country,  and 
by  other  countries  of  the  great  Christian  Federation, 
nay,  that  it  is  expressly  established  by  International 
Law,  as  the  proper  mode  of  determining  justice  between 
nations,  —  while  the  feats  of  hardihood  by  which  it  is 
wag^'d,  and  the  triumphs  of  its  fields,  are  exalted  be- 
yond aU.  other  labors,  whether  of  learning,  industry,  or 
benevolence,  as  the  well-spring  of  Glory.  ,^Jas-Hi]pon 
our  mvn  lieads  be  the  judgment  of  barbarism  which  we 
pronqimce  upon  thosetliat'  have  gone  before  !  At  this 
moment,  in  this  period  of  light,  wliile  to  the  contented 
^..-soulsToFinanjMihe  noonday  sun  of  civilization  seems  to 
be  standing  still  in  the  heavens,  as  upon  Gibeon,  the 
dealings  between  nations  are  still  governed  by  the  odious 
rules  of  brute  violence  which  once  predominated  be- 
tween individuals.  The  Dark  Ages  have  not  passed 
away ;  Erebus  and_3-la.ck  Night,  born  of  Chaos,  still 
brO(5d"bver  the  earth;  nor  can  we  hail  the  clear  day, 
until  the  hearts  of  nations  are  touched,  as  the  hearts  of 
individual  men,  and  all  acknowledge  one  and  the  same 
Lav:  of  Right. 

What  has  taught  you,  0  man !  thus  to  find  glory  in 
an  act,  performed  by  a  nation,  which  you  condemn  as  a 
crime  or  a  barbarism,  when  committed  by  an  individual  ? 


46  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

In  what  vain  conceit  of  wisdom  and  virtue  do  you  find 
this  incongruous  morality  ?  Where  is  it  declared  that 
God,  who  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  is  a  respecter  of 
multitudes  ?  Whence  do  you  draw  these  partial  laws 
of  an  impartial  God  ?  Man  is  immortal ;  but  Nations 
are  mortal.  Man  has  a  higher  destiny  than  Nations. 
Can  Nations  be  less  amenable  to  the  supreme  moral 
law  ?  Each  individual  is  an  atom  of  the  mass.  Must 
not  the  mass,  in  its  conscience,  be  like  the  indi^dduals  of 
which  it  is  composed  ?  Shall  the  mass,  in  relations  with 
other  masses,  do  what  individuals  in  relations  with  each 
other  may  not  do  ?  As  in  the  physical  creation,  so  in 
the  moral,  there  is  but  one  rule  for  the  individual  and 
the  mass.  It  was  the  lofty  discovery  of  Newton,  that 
the  simple  law  which  determines  the  fall  of  an  ap- 
ple prevails  everywhere  throughout  the  Universe, — 
ruling  each  particle  in  reference  to  every  other  particle, 
large  or  small,  —  reaching  from  earth  to  heaven,  and  con- 
trolling the  infinite  motions  of  the  spheres.  So,  with 
equal  scope,  another  simple  law,  the  Law  of  Bight, 
which  binds  the  individual,  binds  also  t\vo  or  three  when 
gathered  together,  —  binds  conventions  and  congrega- 
tions of  men,  —  binds  villages,  towns,  and  cities, — 
binds  states,  nations,  and  races,  —  clasps  the  whole  hu- 
man family  in  its  sevenfold  embrace ;  nay,  more,  beyond 

"  the  flaming  bounds  of  place  and  time, 
The  living  throne,  the  sapphire  blaze," 

it  binds  the  angels  of  Heaven,  Cherubim,  full  of  knowl- 
edge. Seraphim,  full  of  love ;  above  all,  it  binds,  in  self- 
imposed  bonds,  a  just  and  omnipotent  God.  This  is  the 
law  of  which  the  ancient  poet  sings,  as  Queen  alike  of 
mortals  and  immortals.  It  is  of  this,  and  not  of  any 
cartldy  law,  that  Hooker  speaks  in  that  magnificent  j)e- 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  47 

riod  which  sounds  like  an  anthem :  "  Of  Law  there  can 
be  no  less  acknowledged  than  that  her  seat  is  the  bosom 
of  God,  her  voice  the  harmony  of  the  world :  all  things 
in  heaven  and  earth  do  her  homage,  the  very  least  as 
feeling  her  care,  and  the  greatest  as  not  exempted  from 
her  power :  both  angels  and  men,  and  creatures  of  what 
condition  soever,  though  each  in  different  sort  and  man- 
ner, yet  all  with  uniform  consent,  admiring  her  as  the 
mother  of  their  peace  and  joy."  Often  quoted,  and 
justly  admired,  sometimes  as  the  finest  sentence  of  our 
English  speech,  this  grand  declaration  cannot  be  more 
fitly  invoked  tlian  to  condemn  the  pretence  of  one 
law  for  the  indi^'idual  and  another  for  the  nation. 

Stripped  of  all  delusive  apology,  and  tried  by  that 
comprehensive  law  under  which  nations  are  set  to  the 
bar  like  common  men,  War  falls  from  glory  into  barbar- 
ous guilt,  taking  its  place  among  bloody  transgressions, 
wliile  its  flaming  honors  are  turned  into  shame.  Pain- 
ful to  existing  prejudice  as  this  may  be,  we  must  learn 
to  abhor  it,  as  we  abhor  similar  transgressions  by  vulgar 
offender.  Every  word  of  reprol)ation  which  the  enlight- 
ened conscience  now  fastens  upon  the  savage  combatant 
in  Trial  by  Battle,  or  which  it  applies  to  the  unhappy 
being  who  in  murderous  duel  takes  the  life  of  his 
fellow-man,  belongs  also  to  the  nation  that  appeals  to 
War.  Amidst  the  thunders  of  Sinai  God  declared, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  kill "  ;  and  the  voice  of  these  thunders, 
with  this  commandment,  is  prolonged  to  our  own  day  in 
the  echoes  of  Christian  churches.  What  mortal  shall 
restrict  the  application  of  these  words  ?  Who  on  earth 
is  empowered  to  vary  or  abridge  the  commandments  of 
God  ?  Who  shall  presume  to  declare  that  this  injunc- 
tion  was   directed,  not  to    nations,  but  to  individuals 


48  TUE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

only,  —  not  to  many,  but  to  one  only,  —  that  one  man 
shall  not  kill,  but  that  many  may,  —  that  one  man  shall 
not  slay  in  Duel,  but  that  a  nation  may  slay  a  multi- 
tude in  tlie  duel  of  War,  —  that  each  individual  is 
forbidden  to  destroy  the  life  of  a  single  human  being, 
but  that  a  nation  is  not  forbidden  to  cut  off  by  the 
sword  a  whole  people  ?  We  are  struck  with  horror,  and 
our  hair  stands  on  end,  at  the  report  of  a  single  murder ; 
we  think  of  the  soul  hurried  to  final  account;  we  hunt 
the  murderer ;  and  Government  puts  forth  its  energies  to 
secure  his  punishment.  Viewed  in  the  unclouded  light 
of  Truth,  what  is  War  but  organized  murder,  —  murder 
of  malice  aforethought,  —  in  cold  blood,  —  under  sanc- 
tions  of  impious  law,  —  through  the  operation  of  an  ex- 
tensive machinery  of  crime,  —  with  innumerable  hands, 
-^  at  incalculable  cost  of  money,  —  by  subtle  contriv- 
ances of  cunning  and  skill,  —  or  amidst  the  fiendish 
atrocities  of  the  savage,  brutal  assault  ? 

By  another  commandment,  not  less  solemn,  it  is  de- 
clared, "  Thou  shalt  not  steal "  ;  and  then  again  there  is 
another  forbidding  to  covet  what  belongs  to  others  : 
but  all  this  is  done  by  War,  which  is  stealing  and  cove- 
tousness  organized  by  International  Law.*  The  Scythian, 
undistiu'bed  by  the  illusion  of  military  glory,  snatched 
a  j)hrase  of  justice  from  an  acknowledged  criminal,  when 
he  called  Alexander  "  the  greatest  robber  in  the  world." 
And  tlie  Eoman  satirist,  filled  with  similar  truth,  in 
pungent  words  touched  to  the  quick  that  llagrant,  un- 
blushing injustice  M-hich  dooms  to  condign  punishment 
the  very  guilt  tliat  in  anotlier  sphere  and  on  a  grander 
scale  is  hailed  witli  acclamation  :  — 

"  llle  crucem  sceleris  jjrotiuin  tiilit,  liic  (li;ulema."l 
^  .Juvenal,  Sat.  XIII.  105.     The  same  judi^nient  is  i)ronoinicc<l  by  Fenclon 


THE    TRUE    GRANDEUK    OF    NATIONS.  49 

"Wliile  condemning  the  ordinary  malefactor,  mankind, 
blind  to  the  real  character  of  War,  may  yet  a  little 
longer  crown  the  giant  actor  with  glory ;  a  generous 
posterity  may  pardon  to  unconscious  barbarism  the 
atrocities  which  have  been  waged ;  but  the  custom, 
as  organized  by  existing  law,  cannot  escape  the  un- 
erring judgment  of  reason  and  religion.  The  outrages, 
which,  under  most  solemn  sanctions,  it  permits  and  in- 
vokes for  professed  purposes  of  justice,  cannot  be  au- 
thorized by  any  human  power ;  and  they  must  rise  in 
overwhelming  judgment,  not  only  against  those  who 
wield  the  weapons  of  Battle,  but  more  still  against  all 
who  uphold  its  monstrous  Arbitrament. 

When,  0,  when  shall  the  St.  Louis  of  the  Nations 
arise,  —  Christian  ruler  or  Christian  people,  —  who,  in 
the  Spirit  of  True  Greatness,  shall  proclaim,  that  hence- 
forward forever  the  great  Trial  by  Battle  shall  cease,  — 
that  "  these  battles  "  shall  be  abolished  throughout  the 
Commonwealth  of  Civilization,  —  that  a  spectacle  so  de- 
grading shall  never  be  allowed  again  to  take  place,  — 
and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  nations,  involving  the  high- 
est and  wisest  policy,  to  establish  love  between  each 
other,  and,  in  all  respects,  at  all  times,  with  all  persons, 
whether  their  own  people  or  the  people  of  other  lands, 
to  be  governed  by  the  sacred  Law  of  Might,  as  between 
man  and  man  ? 

IV. 

I  am  now  brought  to  review  the  obstacles  encountered 
by  those  who,  according  to  the  injunction  of  St.  Augus- 

in  his  counsels  to  royalty,  entitled,  Exatnen  de  Conscience  sur  les  Devoirs  de 
la  Roy^iute. 


50  THE   TRUE    GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

tine,  would  make  war  on  War,  and  slay  it  with  the 
word.  To  some  of  these  obstacles  I  alluded  at  the 
beginning,  especially  the  warlike  literature,  by  which 
the  character  ds  formed.  The  world  has  supped  so  full 
with  battles,  that  its  modes  of  thought  and  many  of  its 
rules  of  conduct  are  incarnadined  with  blood,  as  the 
bones  of  swine,  feeding  on  madder,  are  said  to  become 
red.  Not  to  be  tempted  by  this  theme,  I  hasten  on  to 
expose  in  succession  those  various  prejudices  so  pow- 
erful still  in  keeping  alive  the  aistom  of  War,  including 
that  greatest  prejudice,  mighty  parent  of  an  infinite 
brood,  at  whose  unreasoning  behest  untold  sums  are 
absorbed  in  Preparations  for  War. 

1.  One  of  the  most  important  is  the  prejudice  from 
belief  in  its  necessitij.  When  War  is  called  a  necessity, 
it  is  meant,  of  course,  that  its  object  can  be  attained  in 
no  other  way.  Now  I  think  it  has  already  appeared, 
with  distinctness  approaching  demonstration,  that  the 
professed  object  of  AVar,  which  is  justice  between  na- 
tions, is  in  no  respect  promoted  by  War,  —  that  force 
is  not  justice,  nor  in  any  way  conducive  to  justice,  -^ 
that  tlie  eagles  of  victory  are  tlie  emblems  of  success- 
ful force  only,  and  not  of  established  right.  Justice  is 
obtained  solely  by  the  exercise  of  reason  and  judgment ; 
but  these  are  silent  in  the  din  of  arms.  Justice  is  with- 
out passion ;  but  AVar  lets  loose  all  the  worst  passions, 
while  "  Chance,  high  arbiter,  more  embroils  the  fray." 
Tlie  age  is  gone  wlien  a  nation  within  the  enchanted 
circle  of  civilization  could  make  M'ar  upon  its  neigh- 
bors for  any  declared  purjjose  of  booty  or  A^engeance. 
It  does  "  nought  in  hate,  but  all  in  lionor."  Such  is  the 
present  rule.      Professions  of  tenderness  mingle  with 


THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS         51 

the  first  mutterings  of  strife.  As  if  conscience-struck 
at  tlie  criminal  abyss  into  which  they  are  phmging,  each 
of  the  great  litigants  seeks  to  fix  upon  the  otiier  some 
charge  of  hostile  aggression,  or  to  set  up  the  excuse 
of  defending  some  asserted  right,  some  Texas,  some 
Oregon.  Each,  like  Pontius  Pilate,  vainly  washes  its 
hands  of  innocent  blood,  and  straightway  allows  a 
crime  at  which  the  whole  heavens  are  darkened,  and 
two  kindred  countries  are  severed,  as  the  vail  of  the 
Temple  was  rent  in  twain. 

Proper  modes  for  the  determination  of  international 
disputes  are  jSTegotiation,  Mediation,  Arbitration,  and  a 
Congress  of  Nations,  —  all  practicable,  and  calculated 
to  secure  peaceful  justice.  Under  existing  Law  of  Na- 
tions these  may  be  employed  at  any  time.  But  the  very 
law  sanctioning  War  may  he  changed,  as  regards  two  or 
more  nations  by  treaty  between  tliem,  and  as  regards 
the  body  of  nations  by  general  consent.  If  nations 
can  agree  in  solemn  provisions  of  International  Law 
to  establish  "War  as  Arl^iter  of  Justice,  they  can  also 
agree  to  aliolish  this  arbitrament,  and  to  establish  peace- 
ful substitutes,  —  ]irecisely  as  similar  sul  tstitutes  are 
established  by  Municipal  Law  to  determine  contro- 
versies among  individuals.  A  system  of  Arl^itration 
may  be  instituted,  or  a  Congress  of  Nations,  charged 
with  the  high  duty  of  organizing  an  Ultimate  Trihnnal, 
instead  of  "  these  battles."  To  do  this,  the  will  only  is 
required. 

Let  it  not  be  said,  then,  that  war  is  a  necessity ;  and 
may  our  country  aspire  to  the  glory  of  taking  the  lead 
in  disowning  the  barbarous  system  of  Lynch  Law 
among  nations,  while  it  proclaims  peaceful  snhstitvtcs ! 
Such  a  glory,  unlike  the  earthly  fame  of  battle,  will  be 


52  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

immortal  as  the  stars,  dropping  perpetual  light  upon 
the  souls  of  men. 

2.  Another  prejudice  is  founded  on  tlie  practice  of 
nations,  past  and  present.  There  is  no  crime  or  enor- 
mity in  morals  which  may  not  find  the  support  of  hu- 
man example,  often  on  an  extended  scale.  But  it  will 
not  be  urged  in  our  day  that  we  are  to  look  for  a  stand- 
ard of  duty  in  the  conduct  of  vain,  fallible,  mistaken 
man.  Not  by  any  subtile  alchemy  can  man  transmute 
Wrong  into  Right.  Because  War  is  according  to  the 
practice  of  the  world,  it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  right. 
For  ages  the  world  worshipped  false  gods,  —  not  less 
false  because  all  bowed  before  them.  At  this  moment 
the  prevailing  numbers  of  mankind  are  heathen  ;  but 
heathenism  is  not  therefore  true.  Once  it  was  the 
practice  of  nations  to  slaughter  prisoners  of  war;  but 
the  Spirit  of  AVar  recoils  now  from  this  bloody  sacri- 
fice. By  a  perverse  morality  in  Sparta,  theft,  instead 
of  being  a  crime,  was,  like  War,  dignified  into  an  art 
and  accomj^lishment ;  like  War,  it  was  admitted  into 
the  system  of  youthful  education  ;  and,  like  War,  it  was 
illustrated  by  an  instance  of  unconcpierable  firmness, 
barbaric  counterfeit  of  virtue.  The  Spartan  youth, 
witli  tke  stolen  fox  beneath  liis  robe  eating  into  liis 
bowels,  is  an  example  of  fortitude  not  unlike  tliat  so 
often  admired  in  the  soldier.  Other  illustrations  crowd 
upon  the  mind ;  but  I  will  not  dwell  upon  tliem.  We 
turn  witli  disgust  from  Spartan  cruelty  and  the  wolves 
of  Taygetus,  —  from  the  awful  cannibalism  of  the 
Feejee  Islands,  —  from  the  profane  rites  of  innumer- 
able savages,  —  from  tlie  crushing  Juggernaut,  —  from 
the  Hindoo  widow  on   her   funeral  pyre,  —  from  the 


THE   TRUE   GEANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  53 

Indian  dancing  at  the  stake  ;  but  had  not  all  these,  like 
War,  the  sanction  of  established  usage  ? 

Often  is  it  said  that  we  need  not  be  wiser  than  our 
fathers.  Eather  strive  to  excel  our  fathers.  What  in 
them  was  good  imitate ;  but  do  not  bind  ourselves,  as 
in  chains  of  Fate,  by  their  imperfect  example.  In  aU 
modesty  be  it  said,  we  have  lived  to  little  purpose,  if  we 
are  not  wiser  than  the  generations  that  have  gone  before. 
It  is  the  exalted  distinction  of  man  that  he  is  progres- 
sive,—  that  his  reason  is  not  merely  the  reason  of  a 
single  human  being,  but  that  of  the  whole  human  race, 
in  all  ages  from  which  knowledge  has  descended,  in  all 
lands  from  which  it  has  been  borne  away.  We  are  the 
heirs  to  an  inheritance  grandly  accumulating  from  gen- 
eration to  generation,  with  the  superadded  products  of 
other  lands.  The  child  at  his  mother's  knee  is  now 
taught  the  orbits  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 

"  Where  worlds  on  worlds  compose  one  Universe," 

the  nature  of  this  globe,  the  character  of  the  tribes  by 
which  it  is  covered,  and  the  geography  of  countries,  to 
an  extent  far  beyond  the  ken  of  the  most  learned  in 
other  days.  It  is  true,  therefore,  that  antiquity  is  the 
real  infancy  of  man.  Then  is  he  immature,  ignorant, 
wayward,  selfish,  childish,  finding  his  chief  happiness  in 
lowest  pleasures,  unconscious  of  the  higher.  The  ani- 
mal reigns  supreme,  and  he  seeks  contest,  war,  blood. 
Already  he  has  lived  through  infancy  and  childhood. 
Reason  and  the  kindlier  virtues,  repudiating  and  ab- 
horring force,  now  bear  sway.  The  time  has  come 
for  temperance,  moderation,  peace.  We  are  the  true 
ancients.  The  single  lock  on  the  battered  forehead  of 
old  Time  is  thinner  now  than  when  our  fathers  at- 


54  THE   TRUE   GRAXDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

tempted  to  grasp  it ;  tlie  hour-glass  has  been  turned 
often  since  ;  the  scythe  is  heavier  laden  with  the  work 
of  death. 

Let  us  not,  then,  take  for  a  lamp  to  our  feet  the 
feeble  taper  that  glimmers  from  the  sepulchre  of  the 
Past.  Eather  hail  that  ever-burning  light  above,  in 
whose  beams  is  the  brightness  of  noonday. 

3.  There  is  a  topic  which  I  approach  with  diffidence, 
but  in  the  spirit  of  frankness.  It  is  the  influence  which 
War,  though  condemned  by  Christ,  has  derived  from 
the  Christian  Church.  When  Constantine,  on  one  of 
his  marches,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  beheld  the  lumi- 
nous trophy  of  the  cross  in  the  sky,  right  above  the 
meridian  sun,  inscribed  wath  the  words.  By  this  conquer, 
had  his  soul  been  penetrated  by  the  true  spirit  of  Him 
whose  precious  symbol  it  was,  he  would  have  found  no 
inspiration  to  the  spear  and  the  sword.  He  would  have 
received  the  lesson  of  self-sacrifice  as  from  the  lijDS  of 
the  Saviour,  and  learned  that  hj  no  earthly  weapon  of 
battle  can  true  victory  be  won.  The  pride  of  conquest 
would  have  been  rebuked,  and  the  bawble  sceptre  liave 
fallen  from  his  hands.  By  this  conquer:  by  patience, 
suffering,  forgiveness  of  evil,  liy  all  those  virtues  of 
which  the  crr)ss  is  the  affecting  token,  conquer,  and  the 
victory  shall  be  greater  than  any  in  the  annals  of  Eo- 
man  conquest;  it  may  not  yet  find  a  place  in  the 
records  of  man,  but  it  will  appear  in  the  register  of 
everlasting  life. 

The  Cliristian  Church,  after  the  early  centuries,  failed 
to  discern  the  peculiar  s])iritual  beauty  of  the  faith  it 
professed.  Like  Constantine,  it  found  new  incentive  to 
War  in  the  religion  of  Peace ;  and  such  is  its  character, 


THE   TRUE   GllANDEUK   OF   NATIONS.  55 

even  in  our  own  day.  Tlie  Pope  of  Eome,  the  asserted 
head  of  the  Church,  Vicegerent  of  Christ  upon  earth, 
whose  seal  is  a  fisherman,  on  whose  banner  is  a  Lamb 
before  the  Holy  Cross,  assumed  tlie  command  of  armies, 
mingling  the  thunders  of  Battle  with  the  thunders  of 
the  Vatican.  The  dagger  projecting  from  the  sacred 
vestments  of  De  Eetz,  while  still  an  archbishop,  was 
justly  derided  by  the  Parisian  crowd  as  "  the  Arch- 
bishop's breviary."  We  read  of  mitred  prelates  in 
armor  of  proof,  and  seem  still  to  catch  the  clink  of 
the  golden  spurs  of  bishops  in  the  streets  of  Co- 
logne. The  sword  of  knighthood  was  consecrated  by 
the  Church,  and  priests  were  expert  masters  in  mili- 
tary exercises.  I  have  seen  at  the  gates  of  the  Papal 
Palace  in  Eome  a  constant  guard  of  Swiss  soldiers ;  I 
have  seen,  too,  in  our  own  streets,  a  show  as  incongru- 
ous and  inconsistent,  —  the  pastor  of  a  Christian  church 
swelling  the  pomp  of  a  military  parade.  And  some 
have  heard,  within  a  few  short  weeks,  in  a  Christian 
pulpit,  from  the  lips  of  an  eminent  Christian  divine,  a 
sermon,  where  we  are  encouraged  to  serve  the  God  of 
Battles,  and,  as  citizen  soldiers,  fight  for  Peace  :  ^  a  senti- 
ment in  unhappy  harmony  with  the  profane  language 
of  the  British  peer,  who,  in  addressing  the  House  of 
Lords,  said,  "  The  best  road  to  Peace,  my  Lords,  is  War, 
and  that  in  the  manner  we  are  taught  to  worship  our 
Creator,  namely,  by  carrying  it  on  with  all  our  souls, 
with  all  our  minds,  with  all  our  hearts,  and  with  all 
our  strength,"  2  —  but  finding  small  support  in  a  religion 
that  expressly  enjoins,  when  one  cheek  is  smitten,  to 

1  Discourse  before  the  Ancient  and   Honorable  Artiller\'  Company,  by 
A.  H.  Vinton. 

2  Earl  of  Abingdon,  May  30,  1794:  Hansard,  Pari.  Hist.,  XXXI.  680, 


56  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

turn  the  other,  and  which  we  hear  with  pain  from 
a  minister  of  Christian  truth,  —  alas  !  thus  made  infe- 
rior to  that  of  the  heathen  who  'preferred  the  unjustest 
peace  to  the  justest  war} 

Well  may  we  marvel  that  now,  in  an  age  of  civiliza- 
tion, the  God  of  Battles  should  be  invoked.  "  Deo  im- 
ferante,  QUEM  ADESSE  bellantibus  credunt,"  are  the 
appropriate  words  of  surprise  in  which  Tacitus  de- 
scribes a  similar  delusion  of  the  ancient  Germans.^ 
The  polite  Eoman  did  not  think  God  present  with 
fighting  men.  This  ancient  superstition  must  have  lost 
something  of  its  hold  even  in  Germany ;  for,  at  a 
recent  period,  her  most  renowned  captain,  —  whose  false 
glory  procured  for  him  the  title  of  Great,  —  Frederick 
of  Prussia,  declared,  with  commendable  frankness,  that 
he  always  found  the  God  of  Battles  on  the  side  of  the 
strongest  regiments ;  and  when  it  was  proposed  to 
place  on  his  banner,  soon  to  flout  the  ^ky  of  Silesia, 
the  inscription.  For  GOD  and  Country,  he  rejected  the 
first  word,  declaring  it  not  proper  to  introduce  the  name 
of  the  Deity  in  the  quarrels  of  men.  By  this  ele- 
vated sentiment  the  warrior  monarch  may  be  remem- 
bered, when  his  fame  of  battle  has  passed  away. 

The   French    priest   of    Mars,   who    proclaimed   the 

1  '^  Velimquissimam  pacem  justissimo  bello  ant  cf err  em,'"  arc  the  words  of 
Cicero.  (Epist.  A.  CtBciuce:  Epp.  tul  Divcrsos,  VI.  6.)  Onlj' eight  days  after 
Franklin  had  placed  his  name  to  the  treaty  of  peace  which  acknowledged 
the  independence  of  his  country,  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  "  Jlay  we  never  see 
another  war!  for,  in  my  opinion,  there  never  was  a  good  war  or  a  bad  peace." 
(Letter  to  .Josiah  Quincy:  Works,  ed.  Sparks,  Vol.  X.  p.  11.)  It  is  with  sin- 
cere regret  that  I  seem,  by  a  particular  allusion,  to  depart  for  a  moment 
from  so  great  a  theme ;  but  the  person  and  the  theme  here  become  united. 
I  cannot  refrain  from  the  eftbrt  to  tear  this  iron  branch  of  War  from  the 
golden  tree  of  Christian  Truth,  even  though  a  voice  come  forth  from  the 
breaking  bough. 

2  De  Moribus  German.,  Cap.  7. 


THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  57 

"  divinity  "  of  War,  rivals  the  ancient  Germans  in  faith 
that  God  is  the  tutelary  guardian  of  battle,  and  he  finds 
a  new  title,  Mhich  he  says  " shines "  on  all  the  pages 
of  Scripture,  being  none  other  than  God  of  Armies} 
Never  was  greater  mistake.  No  theology,  no  theodicy, 
has  ever  attributed  to  God  this  title.  God  is  God  of 
Heaven,  God  of  Hosts,  the  Living  God,  and  he  is  God 
of  Peace, — so  called  by  St.  Paul,  saying,  "  Now  the  God 
of  Peace  be  with  you  all,"  ^  and  again, "  The  God  of  Peace 
shall  bruise  Satan  shortly,"  ^  —  but  God  of  Armies  he  is 
not,  as  he  is  not  God  of  Battles.*  The  title,  whether  of 
Armies  or  of  Hosts,  thus  invoked  for  War,  has  an  oppo- 
site import,  even  angelic,  —  the  armies  named  being  sim- 
ply, according  to  authorities  Ecclesiastical  and  Eabbinical, 
the  hosts  of  angels  standing  about  the  throne.  Wlio, 
then,  is  God  of  Battles  ?  It  is  ]\Iars,  —  man-slaying, 
blood-polluted,  city-smiting  Mars  !  ^  It  is  not  He  who 
binds  the  sweet  influences  of  the  Pleiades  and  looses  the 
bands  of  Orion,  who  causes  the  sun  to  shine  on  the  evil 
and  the  good,  who  distils  the  oil  of  gladness  upon  every 
upright  heart,  who  tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn 
lamb,  —  the  Fountain  of  Mercy  and  Goodness,  the  God 
of  Justice  and  Love.  Mars  is  not  the  God  of  Chris- 
tians ;  he  is  not  Our  Father  in  Heaven ;  to  him  can 
ascend  no  prayers  of  Christian  thanksgiving,  no  words 
of  Christian  worship,  no  pealing  anthem  to  swell  the 
note  of  praise. 

And  yet  Christ  and  ]\Iars  are  still  brought  into  fel- 

1  Joseph  de  Jlaistre,  Soirees  de  Saint-P^tersbouvg,  Tom.  II.  p.  27. 

2  Romans,  xv.  33. 

3  Ibid.,  xvi.  20. 

4  A  volume  so  common  as  Cruden's  Concordance  shows  the  audacity  of 
the  martial  claim. 

5  Iliad,  V.  31. 


58  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

lowship,  even  interchanging  pulpits.  WHiat  a  picture 
of  contrasts !  A  national  ship  of  the  line  now  floats 
in  tliis  harbor.  Many  of  you  have  pressed  its  deck, 
and  observed  with  admiration  the  completeness  which 
prevails  in  all  its  parts,  —  its  lithe  masts  and  complex 
network  of  ropes,  —  its  thick  wooden  walls,  Avithin 
which  are  more  than  the  soldiers  of  Ulysses,  —  its 
strong  defeJnces,  and  its  numerous  dread  and  rude- 
throated  engines  of  War.  There,  each  Sabbath,  amidst 
tliis  armament  of  blood,  while  the  wave  comes  gently 
plashing  against  the  frowning  sides,  from  a  pulpit  sup- 
ported by  a  cannon,  in  repose  now,  but  ready  to  awake 
its  dormant  thunder  charged  with  death,  a  Christian 
preacher  addresses  officers  and '  crew.  ]\Iay  his  in- 
structions carry  strength  and  succor  to  their  souls  ! 
But,  in  such  a  place,  those  highest  words  of  the  Mas- 
ter he  professes,  "  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers,"  "  Love 
your  enemies,"  "  Resist  not  evil,"  must,  like  Macbeth's 
"  Amen,"  stick  in  the  throat. 

It  will  not  be  doubted  that  this  strange  and  unblessed 
conjunction  of  the  Church  with  War  has  no  little  in- 
fluence in  blinding  the  world  to  the  truth,  too  slowly 
recognized,  that  the  whole  custom  of  war  is  contranj  to 
Christianity. 

Individual  interests  mingle  with  prevailing  errors, 
and  are  so  far  concerned  in  maintaining  them  tliat 
military  men  yield  reluctantly  to  this  truth.  Like  law- 
yers, as  described  by  Voltaire,  they  are  "  conservators  of 
ancient  barbarous  usages."  But  tliat  these  usages  should 
obtain  countenance  in  the  Church  is  one  of  those  anom- 
alies which  make  us  feel  the  weakness  of  our  nature, 
if  not  the  elevation  of  Christian  truth.  To  uphold  the 
Arbitrament  of  War  requires  no  more  than  to  uphold 


THE   TEUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  59 

the  Trial  by  Battle  ;  for  the  two  are  identical,  except  in 
proportion.  One  is  a  giant,  the  other  a  pygmy.  Long 
ago  the  Church  condemned  the  pygmy,  and  this  Chris- 
tian judgment  now  awaits  extension  to  the  giant. 
Meanwhile  it  is  perpetual  testimony ;  nor  should  it 
be  forgotten,  that,  for  some  time  after  the  Apostles, 
when  the  message  of  peace  and  good-will  was  lirst  re- 
ceived, many  yielded  to  it  so  completely  as  to  reject 
arms  of  all  kinds.  Such  was  tlie  voice  of  Justin  Mar- 
tyr, Irena?us,  TertiiUian,  and  Origen,  while  Augustine 
pleads  always  for  Peace.  Gibbon  coldly  recounts,  how 
Maximilian,  a  youthful  recruit  from  Africa,  refused  to 
serve,  insisting  that  his  conscience  would  not  permit 
him  to  embrace  the  profession  of  soldier,  and  then 
how  Marcellus  the  Centurion,  on  the  day  of  a  public 
festival,  threw  away  his  belt,  his  arms,  and  the  ensigns 
of  command,  exclaiming  with  a  loud  voice,  that  he 
would  obey  none  but  Jesus  Christ,  the  Eternal  King.^ 
Martyrdom  ensued,  and  the  Church  has  inscribed  their 
names  on  its  everlasting  rolls,  thus  forever  commemo- 
rating their  testimony.  These  are  early  examples,  not 
without  successors.  But  Mars,  so  potent,  especially  in 
Eome,  was  not  easily  dislodged,  and  down  to  this  day 
holds  his  place  at  Christian  altars. 

"  Thee  to  defend  the  Moloch  priest  prefers 
The  prayer  of  hate,  and  bellows  to  the  herd, 
That  Deity,  accomplice  Deity, 
In  the  fierce  jealousy  of  wakened  wrath, 
Will  go  forth  with  our  armies  and  our  fleets 
To  scatter  the  red  ruin  on  their  foes ! 
O,  blasphemy !  to  mingle  fiendish  deeds 
With  blessedness !  "  2 

1  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Chap.  XVI.  Vol.  I.  p 
680. 

2  Coleridge,  Religious  Musings,  written  Cliristmas  Eve,  1794. 


60  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

One  of  the  beautiful  pictures  adorning  the  dome  of  a 
churcli  in  Rome,  by  that  master  of  Art,  whose  immortal 
colors  speak  as  with  the  voice  of  a  poet,  the  Divine 
Raphael,  represents  Mars  in  the  attitude  of  War,  with 
a  drawn  sword  uplifted  and  ready  to  strike,  while  an 
unarmed  angel  from  behind,  with  gentle,  but  irresist- 
ible force,  arrests  and  holds  the  descending  hand.  Such 
is  the  true  image  of  Christian  duty  ;  nor  can  I  readily 
perceive  any  difference  m  principle  between  those  min- 
isters of  the  Gospel  who  themselves  gird  on  the  sword, 
as  in  the  olden  time,  and  those  others,  unarmed,  and  in 
customary  suit  of  solemn  black,  who  lend  tlie  sanction 
of  their  presence  to  the  martial  array,  or  to  any  form  of 
preparation  for  War.  The  drummer,  who  pleaded  that 
he  did  not  light,  was  held  more  responsible  for  the  bat- 
tle than  the  soldier,  —  as  it  was  the  sound  of  his  drum 
that  inflamed  the  flagging  courage  of  the  troops. 

4.  From  prejudices  engendered  by  the  Church  I  pass 
to  prejudices  engendered  by  the  army  itself,  having  their 
immediate  origin  in  military  life,  but  unfortunately  dif- 
fusing themselves  throughout  the  community,  in  mden- 
ing,  though  less  apparent  circles.  I  allude  directly  to 
what  is  called  the  Point  of  Honor,  early  child  of  Chivalry, 
living  representative  of  its  barbarism.^  It  is  difficult  to 
define  what  is  so  evanescent,  so  impalpal)lo,  so  chimeri- 
cal, so  unreal,  and  yet  which  exercises  such  fiendish 

1  The  Point  of  Tlonor  has  a  literature  of  its  own,  illustrated  by  many  vol- 
umes, some  idea  of  which  may  be  obtained  in  Brunei,  "  Manuel  du  Libraire," 
Tom.  VI.  col.  1636-  1638,  under  the  head  of  Chevalerie  au  Mmjen  Ar/e,  com- 
prenant  les  Tournois^  les  Combats  SinguUers,  etc.  One  of  these  has  a  title 
much  in  advance  of  the  aj^e  in  which  it  appeared:  "  Chrestienne  Confutation 
du  Point  d'Honneur  sur  leciuel  la  Noblesse  fonde  aujourd'hui  sos  Querelles 
et  Monomaehies,"  par  Christ,  de  ChilVontaine,  Paris,  1579. 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  61 

power  over  many  men,  and  controls  the  intercourse  of  na- 
tions. As  a  little  water,  fallen  into  the  crevice  of  a  rock, 
under  the  congelation  of  winter,  swells  till  it  bursts  the 
thick  and  stony  fibres,  so  a  w^ord  or  slender  act,  drop- 
ping into  the  heart  of  man,  under  the  hardening  in- 
tiuence  of  this  pernicious  sentiment,  dilates  till  it  rends 
in  pieces  the  sacred  depository  of  human  affection,  and 
the  demons  Hate  and  Strife  are  left  to  rage.  The  mus- 
ing Hamlet  saw  this  sentiment  in  its  strange  and  unnat- 
ural potency,  when  his  soul  pictured  to  his  contempla- 
tions an 

"  army  of  such  mass  and  charge, 
Led  by  a  delicate  and  tender  prince,  .... 
Exposing  what  is  mortal  and  unsure 
To  all  that  fortune,  death,  and  danger  dare, 
Even  far  an  egg-shell " ; 

and  when,  again,  giving  to  the  sentiment  its  strongest 
and  most  popular  expression,  he  exclaims,  — 

"  Rightly  to  be  great 
Is  not  to  stir  without  great  argument, 
But  greatly  to  find  quarrel  in  a  straw, 
When  honor  's  at  the  stake." 

And  when  is  honor  at  stake  ?  This  inquiry  opens 
again  the  argument  with  which  I  commenced,  and  with 
which  I  hope  to  close.  Honor  can  be  at  stake  only 
where  justice  and  beneficence  are  at  stake  ;  it  can  never 
depend  on  egg-shell  or  straw ;  it  can  never  depend  on 
any  hasty  word  of  anger  or  folly,  not  even  if  fol- 
lowed by  vulgar  violence.  True  honor  appears  in  the 
dignity  of  the  human  soul,  in  that  highest  moral  and 
intellectual  excellence  which  is  the  nearest  approach  to 
qualities  w'e  reverence  as  attributes  of  God.  Our  com- 
munity frowns  with  indignation  upon  the  profaneness 
of  the  duel,  having  its  rise  in  this  irrational  poiyd  of 


62  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

honor.  Are  you  aware  that  you  indulge  the  same  senti- 
ment on  a  gigantic  scale,  when  you  recognize  this  very 
point  of  honor  as  a  proper  apology  for  War  ?  We  have 
already  seen  that  justice  is  in  no  respect  promoted  by 
War.  Is  True  Honor  promoted  where  justice  is  not  ? 
The  very  word  Honor,  as  used  by  the  world,  fails  to 
express  any  elevated  sentiment.  How  immeasurably 
below  the  sentiment  of  iJuty  !  It  is  a  word  of  easy 
virtue,  that  has  been  prostituted  to  the  most  opposite 
characters  and  transactions.  From  the  field  of  Pavia, 
where  France  suffered  one  of  tlie  worst  reverses  in  her 
annals,  the  defeated  king  writes  to  his  mother,  "  All 
is  lost,  except  lienor"  At  a  later  day,  the  renowned 
French  cook,  Vatel,  in  a  paroxysm  of  grief  and  mortifi- 
cation at  the  failure  of  two  dishes  for  the  table,  exclaims, 
"  I  have  lost  my  1io7ior  !  "  and  stabs  himself  to  the  heart. ^ 
Montesquieu,  whose  writings  are  constellations  of  epi- 
grams, calls  honor  a  prejudice  only,  which  he  places  in 
direct  contrast  with  virtue,  —  the  former  being  the  ani- 
mating principle  of  monarchy,  and  the  latter  the  ani- 
mating principle  of  a  republic  ;  but  he  reveals  the  inferi- 
ority of  honor,  as  a  principle,  Avhen  he  adds,  that,  in  a 
well-governed  monarchy,  almost  everybody  is  a  good 

1  The  death  of  the  culinary  martyr  is  described  by  Madame  de  S^vignd 
with  the  accustomed  coidiu^ss  ami  brilliancy  of  her  fashionable  pen  (Lettres 
L.  and  LI.,  Tom.  I.  pp.  164,  16.')).  It  was  attributed,  she  saj-s,  to  the  hi;/h 
sense  of  honor  he  had  afltr  his  own  ivny.  Tributes  multiply.  A  French 
vaudeville  associates  his  name  with  that  of  this  brilliant  writer,  saying, 
"  Madame  de  Sdvign(5  and  Vatel  are  the  people  who  honored  the  afje  of  Louis 
XIV."  The  Almannch  des  Gourmands,  in  the  Epistle  Dedicatory  of  its  con-' 
eluding  volume,  addresses  the  venerable  shade  of  the  heroic  cook:  "You 
have  proved  that  the  Janniicism  of  honor  can  exist  in  the  kitchen  as  well  as 
the  camp."  TJerchoux  commemorates  the  dying  exclamation  in  La  Gastro- 
twmie,  Chant  III.:  — 

"Ve  suis perdu  d'honntur,  deux  rotis  ont  manque''." 


THE   TRUE    GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  63 

citizen,  while  it  is  rare  to  meet  a  really  good  man.^  The 
man  of  honor  is  not  the  man  of  virtue.  By  an  instinct 
pointing  to  the  truth,  we  do  not  apply  this  term  to  the 
high  columnar  qualities  which  sustain  and  decorate  life, 
—  parental  affection,  justice,  benevolence,  the  attributes 
of  God.  He  would  seem  to  borrow  a  feebler  phrase, 
showing  a  slight  appreciation  of  the  distinctive  character 
to  whom  reverence  is  accorded,  who  should  speak  of 
father,  mother,  judge,  angel,  or  finally  of  God,  as  persons 
of  honor.  In  such  sacred  connections,  we  feel,  beyond 
the  force  of  any  argument,  the  mundane  character  of 
the  sentiment  which  plays  such  a  part  in  history  and 
even  in  common  life. 

The  rule  of  honor  is  founded  in  the"  imagined  neces- 
sity of  resenting  by  force  a  supposed  injury,  whether  of 
word  or  act.^  Admit  the  injury  received,  seeming  to 
sully  the  character ;  is  it  wiped  away  by  any  force,  and 
descent  to  the  brutal  level  of  its  author  ?  "  Could  I 
wipe  your  blood  from  my  conscience  as  easily  as  this 
insult  from  my  face,"  said  a  Marshal  of  France,  greater 
on  this  occasion  than  on  any  field  of  fame,  "  I  wovdd 
lay  you  dead  at  my  feet."  Plato,  reporting  the  angelic 
wisdom  of  Socrates,  declares,  in  one  of  those  beautiful 
dialogues   shining   with  stellar  light   across   the   ages, 


1  Esprit  des  Lois,  Liv.  III.  ch.  3-7. 

2  Tliis  is  well  exposed  in  a  comedy  of  Molifere. 

"  Don  Pedre.     Souhaitez-vous  qtielquo  chose  de  moi  ? 

"  Bali.  Qui,  un  conseil  sur  unfait  d'honneur.  ,Te  sais  qu'eii  ces  matiferes 
il  est  mal-ais6  de  trouver  un  cavalier  plus  consomm^  que  vous 

"  Seigneur,  /'ai  requ  un  soufflet.  Vous  savez  ce  qu'est  un  soufflet,  lorsqu'il 
se  donne  a  main  ouverte  sur  le  bean  milieu  de  la  joue.  J'ni  ce  soufflet  fort 
sur  le  cosur ;  etje  suis  dans  incertitude,  si,  pour  me  venger  de  Vagrant,  je  dfiis 
me  bnttre  avec  nion  homme,  on  bien  le  faire  assassiner. 

"  Don  Pedre.     Assassiner,  c'est  le  plus  sur  et  le  plus  court  chemin." 

Le  Sicilien,  Sc.  XIII. 


64  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

that  to  do  a  wrong  is  more  shameful  than  to  receive  a 
v:rong}  And  this  benign  sentiment  conimends  itself 
alike  to  the  Christian,  who  is  bid  to  render  good  for 
evil,  and  to  the  enlightened  soul  of  man.  But  who  con- 
fessing its  truth  will  resort  to  force  on  any  point  of 
honor  ? 

In  ancient  Athens,  as  in  unchristianized  Christian 
lands,  there  were  sophists  who  urged  that  to  suffer 
was  unbecoming  a  man,  and  would  draw  down  incalcu- 
lable evil.  The  following  passage,  which  I  translate 
with  scrupulous  literalness,  Avill  show  the  manner  in 
which  the  moral  cowardice  of  these  persons  of  little 
faith  was  rebuked  by  him  whom  the  gods  of  Greece 
pronounced  Wisest  of  Men. 

"  These  things  being  so,  let  us  inquire  what  it  is  you 
reproach,  me  with  :  whether  it  is  well  said,  or  not,  that 
I,  forsooth,  am  not  able  to  assist  either  myself  or  any  of 
my  friends  or  my  relations,  or  to  save  myself  from  the 
greatest  dangers,  but  that,  like  the  infamous,  I  am  at  the 
mercy  of  any  one  who  may  choose  to  smite  me  on  the 
face  (for  this  was  your  juvenile  expression),  or  take 
away  my  property,  or  drive  me  out  of  the  city,  or  (the 
extreme  case)  kill  me,  and  that  to  be  so  situated  is,  as 
you  say,  the  most  shameful  of  all  things.  But  my  view 
is,  —  a  view  many  times  expressed  already,  but  there 
is  no  objection  to  its  being  stated  again,  —  my  view,  I 
say,  is,  0  Callicles,  that  to  he  struck  on  the  face  unjustly 
is  not  most  shameful,  nor  to  have  ruiy  hody  mutilated,  nor 
my  purse  cut ;  hut  that  to  strike  and  cut  me  and  mine 
unjustly  is  more  shameftd  and  worse —  and  stealing,  too, 

1  This  proposition  is  enforced  by  Socrates,  with  unanswcnable  reasoning 
and  illustration,  throufihout  the  Gorr/ins,  which  Cicero  read  diligently  while 
studying  at  Athens  (De  Oratore,  I.  11). 


THE    TRUE    GRANDEUR    OF    NATIONS.  G5 

and  enslaving,  and  housebreaking,  and,  in  geiicral,  doing 
any  wrong  ivhatevcr  to  nie  and  mine,  is  viore  shameful  and 
worse  — for  him  who  does  the  wrong  than  for  me  who  suffer 
it.  These  tilings,  which  thus  appeared  to  us  in  the  for- 
mer part  of  this  discussion,  are  secured  and  bound 
(even  if  the  expression  be  somewhat  rustical)  with  iron 
and  adamantine  arguments,  as  indeed  they  would  seem  to 
be ;  and  unless  you,  or  some  one  stronger  than  you,  can 
break  them,  it  is  impossible  for  any  one,  saying  other- 
wise than  as  I  now  say,  to  speak  correctly :  since,  for 
my  part,  /  always  have  the  same  thing  to  say,  —  that  I 
know  not  how  these  things  are,  hut  that,  of  all  tvhom  I 
have  ever  discoursed  with  as  now,  no  one  is  able  to  say 
othci'ivisc  without  being  7'idieulous."  ^ 

Such  is  the  wisdom  of  Socrates,  as  reported  by  Plato ; 
and  it  has  found  beautiful  expression  in  the  verse  of  an 
English  poet,  who  says,  — 

"  Dear  as  freedom  is,  and  in  my  heart's 
Just  estimation  prized  above  all  price, 
I  had  much  rather  be  myself  (he  slave 
And  wear  the  bonds  than  fasten  them  on  him."  2 

The  modern  2Joint  of  honor  did  not  obtain  a  place 
in  warlike  antiquity.  Themistocles  at  Salamis,  when 
threatened  with  a  blow,  did  not  send  a  cartel  to  the 
Spartan  commander.  "  Strike,  but  hear,"  was  the  re- 
sponse of  that  firm  nature,  which  felt  that  true  honor  is 
gained  only  in  the  performance  of  duty.  It  was  in 
the  depths  of  modern  barbarism,  in  the  age  of  chivalry, 
that  this  sentiment  shot  up  into  wildest  and  rank- 
est fancies.  iS[ot  a  step  Avas  taken  without  it.  No 
act  without  reference  to  the  "  bewitching  duel."  And 
every  stage  in  the  combat,  from  the  ceremonial  at  its 

1  Gorgias,  Gap.  LXIV. 

a  Cowper,  The  Task,  Book  II.  w.  33-36. 


66  THE   TRUE    GRANDEUR    OF   NATIONS. 

beginning  to  its  deadly  close,  was  measured  by  this  fan- 
tastic law.  Nobody  forgets  As  You  Like  It,  with  its 
humorous  picture  of  a  quarrel  in  progress  to  a  duel, 
through  the  seven  degrees  of  Touchstone.  Nothing 
more  ridiculous,  as  nothing  can  be  more  disgusting,  than 
the  degradation  in  which  this  whole  fantasy  of  honor 
had  its  origin,  as  fully  appears  from  an  authentic  inci- 
dent in  the  life  of  its  most  brilliant  ref)resentative.  The 
Chevalier  Bayard,  cynosure  of  chivalry,  the  good  knight 
without  fear  and  without  reproach,  battling  with  the 
Spaniard  Senor  Don  Alonso  de  Soto  Mayor,  succeeded 
by  a  feint  in  striking  him  such  a  blow,  that  the  weapon, 
despite  the  gorget,  penetrated  the  throat  four  fingers 
deep.  The  wounded  Spaniard  grappled  with  his  antago- 
nist until  they  both  rolled  on  the  ground,  when  Bayard, 
drawing  his  dagger,  and  thrusting  the  point  directly  into 
the  nostrils  of  his  foe,  exclaimed,  "  Seiior  Don  Alonso, 
surrender,  or  you  are  a  dead  man  ! "  —  a  speech  which  ap- 
peared superfluous,  as  the  second  of  the  Spaniard  cried 
out,  "  Senor  Bayard,  he  is  dead  already ;  you  have  con- 
quered." The  French  knight  "  would  gladly  have  given 
a  hundred  thousand  crowns,  if  he  had  liad  them,  to  have 
van(piished  him  alive,"  says  the  Chronicle ;  but  now 
falling  upon  his  knees,  he  kissed  the  eartli  three  times, 
then  rose  and  drew  his  dead  enemy  from  the  field, 
saying  to  the  second,  "  Senor  Don  Diego,  have  I  done 
enough  ? "  To  which  the  other  piteously  replied,  "  Too 
much,  Senor  Bayard,  ibr  tlie  honor  of  Spain  !"  when  the 
latter  very  generously  i)resenled  liim  with  the  corpse, 
it  being  his  right,  by  the  Law  of  Honor,  to  dispose  of  it 
as  lie  thought  proper :  an  act  higldy  commended  by 
the  chivalrous  BrantAme,  who  thinks  it  difficult  to  say 
which   did  most  lionor  to   tlie  faultless  knight,  —  not 


THE   TEUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  67 

dragging  the  dead  body  by  a  leg  ignominiously  from 
the  field,  like  the  carcass  of  a  do<>:,  or  condescending  to 
fio-ht  while  suffering  under  an  a^ue  !  ^ 

In  such  a  transaction,  conferring  honor  upon  the 
brightest  son  of  chivalry,  we  learn  the  real  character  of 
an  age  whose  departure  has  been  lamented  with  such 
touching,  but  inappropriate  eloquence.  Thank  God ! 
the  age  of  chivalry  is  gone  ;  but  it  cannot  be  allowed 
to  prolong  its  fanaticism  of  honor  into  our  day.  This 
must  remain  with  the  lances,  swords,  and  daggers  by 
which  it  was  guarded,  or  appear,  if  it  insists,  only  with 
its  inseparable  American  companions,  bowie-knife,  pis- 
tol, and  rifle. 

A  true  standard  of  conduct  is  found  only  in  the 
highest  civilization,  with  those  two  inspirations,  justice 
and  benevolence,  —  never  in  any  barbarism,  though  af- 
fecting the  semblance  of  sensibility  and  refinement. 
But  this  standard,  while  governing  the  relations  of  the 
individual,  must  be  recognized  by  nations  also.  Alas  ! 
alas !  how  long  ?  We  still  wait  that  happy  day,  now 
beginning  to  dawn,  harbinger  of  infinite  happiness  be- 
yond, when  nations,  like  men,  shall  confess  that  it  is 
better  to  receive  a  wTong  than  do  a  wrong. 

5.  There  is  still  another  influence  stimulating  War, 
and  interfering  with  the  natural  attractions  of  Peace :  I 
refer  to  a  selfish  and  exaggerated  prejudice  of  country, 
leading  to  physical  aggrandizement  and  political  exal- 
tation at  the  expense  of  other  countries,  and  in  disre- 

1  La  Tresjoyeiise,  Plaisante  et  Recreative  H^'stoire,  composee  par  le  Loyal 
Serviteur,  des  Faiz,  Gestes,  Triumphes  et  Prouesses  du  Bon  Chevalier  sans 
Paour  et  sans  Reprouche,  le  Gentil  Seigneur  de  Bayart,  Chap.  XXII.: 
Petitot,  Collection  Complete  des  M^moires  relatifs  a  I'Histoire  de  France, 
Tom.  XV.  pp.  238-244.  BrantGme,  Discours  sur  les  Duels:  CEuvres,  Tom 
VIII.  pp.  34,  35. 


68  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

gard  of  justice.  Nursed  by  the  literature  of  antiquity, 
we  imbibe  the  sentiment  of  heathen  patriotism.  Ex- 
chisive  love  for  the  land  of  birth  belonged  to  the  re- 
ligion of  Greece  and  Eome.  This  sentiment  was  ma- 
terial as  well  as  exclusive.  The  Oracle  directed  the 
returning  Eoman  to  kiss  his  mother,  and  he  kissed 
Mother  Earth.  Agamemnon,  according  to  iEschylus, 
on  regaining  his  home,  after  perilous  separation  for 
more  than  ten  years  at  the  siege  of  Troy,  before  ad- 
dressing family,  friend,  or  countryman,  salutes  Argos  :  — 

"  By  your  leave,  lords,  first  Argos  I  salute." 

The  schoolboy  does  not  forget  the  victim  of  Verres,  with 
the  memorable  cry  which  was  to  stay  the  descending 
fasces  of  the  lictor,  "  I  am  a  Roman  citizen," — nor  those 
other  words  echoing  through  the  dark  Past,  "  How  sweet 
and  becoming  to  die  for  country  ! "  Of  little  avail  the 
nobler  cry,  "  I  am  a  man,"  or  the  Christian  ejaculation, 
swelling  the  soul,  "  How  sweet  and  becoming  to  die 
for  duty  ! "  The  beautiful  genius  of  Cicero,  instinct  at 
times  with  truth  ahnost  divine,  did  not  ascend  to  that 
heaven  where  it  is  taught  that  all  mankind  are  neighbors 
and  kmdred.  To  the  love  of  universal  man  may  be  ap- 
plied those  words  by  which  the  great  Roman  elevated 
his  selfish  patriotism  to  virtue,  when  he  said  that  country 
alone  emhraced  all  the  charities  of  all}  Attach  this  ad- 
mired phrase  to  the  single  idea  of  country,  and  you  see 
how  contracted  are  its  charities,  compared  with  that 
world-wide  circle  where  our  neig]il)or  is  the  suffering 

1  "Car!  sunt  parentes,  can  libori,  propiiiqui.  familiares  ;  sed  omnes  omni- 
um caritates  palria  una  compltxa  est."  (De  Offic,  Lib.  I.  cap.  17.)  It  is 
curious  to  observe  how  Cicero  puts  aside  that  expression  of  true  humanity 
which  fell  from  Terence,  "  Humani  nihil  a  me,  alienum  puto.^'  He  says,  "£j}i 
enim  dijicilis  cura  rerum  alienarum.'^     Ibid.,  Lib.  I.  cap.  9. 


THE  TRUE   GKANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  69 

man,  though  at  the  farthest  pole.  Such  a  sentiment 
would  dry  up  those  precious  fountains  now  diffusing 
themselves  in  distant  unenlightened  lands,  from  the  icy- 
mountains  of  Greenland  to  the  coral  islands  of  the 
Pacific  Sea. 

It  is  the  policy  of  rulers  to  encourage  this  exclusive 
patriotism,  and  here  they  are  aided  by  the  examples 
of  antiquity.  I  do  not  know  that  any  one  nation  is 
permitted  to  reproach  another  with  this  selfishness. 
All  are  selfish.  Men  are  taught  to  live,  not  for  man- 
kind, but  only  for  a  small  portion  of  mankind.  The 
pride,  vanity,  ambition,  brutality  even,  which  all  rebuke 
in  the  individual,  are  accounted  virtues,  if  displayed  in 
the  name  of  country.  Among  us  the  sentiment  is  ac- 
tive, while  it  derives  new  force  from  the  point  with 
which  it  has  been  expressed.  An  officer  of  our  nnvj, 
one  of  the  heroes  nurtured  by  War,  whose  name  has 
been  praised  in  churches,  going  beyond  all  Greek,  all 
Roman  example,  exclaimed,  "  Our  country,  right  or 
wrong,"  —  a  sentiment  dethroning  God  and  enthroning 
the  Devil,  whose  flagitious  character  must  be  rebuked 
by  every  honest  heart.  How  different  was  virtuous 
Andrew  Fletcher,  whose  heroical  uprightness,  amidst 
the  trials  of  his  time,  has  become  immortal  in  the  say- 
ing, that  he  "would  readily  lose  his  life  to  serve  his 
country,  but  would  not  do  a  base  thing  to  save  it."  ^ 
Better  words,  or  more  truly  patriotic,  were  never  uttered. 
"  Our  country,  our  whole  country,  and  nothing  hut  our 
country"  are  other  delusive  sounds,  which,  first  falling 
from  the  Kps  of  an  eminent  American  orator,  are  often 
painted  on  banners,  and  echoed  by  innumerable  multi- 
tudes.    Cold  and  dreary,  narrow  and  selfish  would  be 

1  Character,  prefixed  to  Political  Works,  p.  viii. 


70  THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

this  life,  if  nothing  but  our  country  occupied  the  soul, — 
if  the  thoughts  that  wander  through  eternity,  if  the 
infinite  aflections  of  our  nature,  were  restrained  to  that 
place  where  we  find  ourselves  by  the  accident  of  birth. 
By  a  natural  sentiment  we  incline  to  the  spot  where 
we  were  born,  to  the  fields  that  witnessed  the  sports  of 
childhood,  to  the  seat  of  youthful  studies,  and  to  the 
institutions  under  which  we  have  been  trained.  The 
finger  of  God  writes  all  these  things  indelibly  upon  the 
heart  of  man,  so  that  even  in  death  he  reverts  with 
fondness  to  early  associations,  and  longs  for  a  draught 
of  cold  water  from  the  bucket  in  his  father's  well.  This 
sentiment  is  independent  of  reflection  :  for  it  begins  be- 
fore reflection,  grows  with  our  growth,  and  strengthens 
with  our  strength.  It  is  the  same  in  all  countries  hav- 
ing the  same  degree  of  enlightenment,  differing  only 
according  to  enlightenment,  under  whose  genial  in- 
fluence it  softens  and  refines.  It  is  the  strongest  with 
those  least  enlightened.  The  wretched  Hottentot  never 
travels  away  from  his  melting  sun  ;  the  wretched  Esqui- 
mau never  travels  away  from  his  freezing  cold ;  nor 
does  either  know  or  care  for  other  lands.  This  is  his 
patriotism.  The  same  instinct  belongs  to  animals. 
There  is  no  beast  not  instinctively  a  patriot,  cherish- 
ing his  own  country  with  all  its  traditions,  which  he 
guards  instinctively  against  all  comers.  Thus  again,  in 
considering  the  origin  of  War,  do  we  encounter  the  ani- 
mal in  man.  But  as  human  nature  is  elevated,  as  the 
animal  is  subdued,  that  patriotism  which  is  without  rea- 
son shares  the  generous  change  and  gradually  loses  its 
barbarous  egotism.  To  the  enlarged  vision  a  new  world 
is  disclosed,  and  we  begin  to  discern  the  distant  moun- 
tain-peaks,  all  gilded  by  the  beams  of  morning,  reveal- 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  71 

ing  that  God  lias  not  placed  us  alone  on  this  earth,  but 
that  others,  equally  with  ourselves,  are  children  of  his 
care. 

The  curious  spirit  goes  further,  and,  while  recognizing 
an  inborn  attachment  to  the  place  of  birth,  searches  into 
the  nature  of  the  allegiance  required.  According  to  the 
old  idea,  still  too  prevalent,  man  is  made  for  the  State, 
not  the  State  for  man.  Far  otherwise  is  the  truth.  The 
State  is  an  artificial  body,  for  the  security  of  the  peo- 
ple. How  constantly  do  we  find  in  human  history  that 
the  people  are  sacrificed  for  the  State,  —  to  build  the 
Eoman  name,  to  secure  for  England  the  trident  of  the 
sea,  to  carry  abroad  the  conquering  eagles  of  France ! 
This  is  to  barter  the  greater  for  the  less,  —  to  sacrifice 
humanity,  embracing  more  even  than  country  all  the 
charities  of  all,  for  the  sake  of  a  mistaken  grandeur. 

Not  that  I  love  country  less,  but  Humanity  more,  do 
I  now  and  here  plead  the  cause  of  a  higher  and  truer 
patriotism.  I  cannot  forget  that  we  are  men  by  a  more 
sacred  bond  than  we  are  citizens,  —  that  we  are  children 
of  a  common  Father  more  than  we  are  Americans. 

Thus  do  seeming  diversities  of  nations  —  separated 
by  accident  of  language,  mountain,  river,  or  sea  —  all 
disappear,  and  the  multitudinous  tribes  of  the  globe 
stand  forth  as  members  of  one  vast  Human  Family, 
where  strife  is  treason  to  Heaven,  and  all  war  is  nothing 
else  than  civil  war.  In  vain  restrict  this  odious  term, 
importing  so  much  of  horror,  to  the  dissensions  of  a 
single  community.  It  belongs  also  to  feuds  between 
nations.  The  soul  trembles  aghast  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  fields  drenched  with  fraternal  gore,  where  the 
happiness  of  homes  is  shivered  by  neighbors,  and  kins- 
man sinks  beneath   the  steel  nerved  by  a  kinsman's 


72  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

hand.  This  is  civil  M-ar,  accursed  forever  in  the  calen- 
dar of  Time.  In  the  faithful  record  of  tlie  future,  rec- 
ognizing tlie  True  Grandeur  of  Nations,  tlie  Muse  of 
History,  insj^ired  by  a  loftier  justice  and  touched  to  finer 
sensibilities,  will  extend  to  Universal  ]\Ian  the  sympa- 
thy now  confined  to  country,  and  no  M'ar  will  be  waged 
without  arousing  everlasting  judgment. 

G.  I  might  here  pause,  feeling  that  those  M'ho  have 
accompanied  me  to  this  stage  will  be  ready  to  join  in 
condemnation  of  War,  and  to  liail  Peace  as  the  only  con- 
dition becoming  the  dignity  of  human  nature,  wlide  it 
opens  vistas  of  all  kinds  abundant  with  the  most  fruit- 
ful promises.  But  there  is  one  other  consideration, 
yielding  to  none  in  importance,  —  perhaps  more  impor- 
tant than  all,  being  at  once  cause  and  effect,  —  the  cause 
of  strong  prejudice  in  favor  of  War,  and  the  effect  of 
this  prejudice.  I  refer  to  Preparations  for  War  in  time 
of  Peace.  Here  is  an  immense  practical  evil,  requiring 
remedy.  In  exposing  its  character  too  much  care  can- 
not be  taken. 

I  shall  not  dw^ell  upon  the  fearful  cost  of  War  itself. 
That  is  present  in  the  mountainous  accumulations  of 
debt,  piled  like  Ossa  upon  Pelion,  with  which  civili- 
zation is  pressed  to  earth.  According  to  the  most  recent 
tables,  the  public  debt  of  European  nations,  so  far  as 
known,  amounts  to  the  terrific  sum  of  $7,777,521,840, 
—  all  tlie  growth  of  War !  It  is  said  that  there  are 
throughout  these  nations  17,000,000  paupers,  or  persons 
subsisting  at  the  public  expense,  without  contril)uting 
to  its  resources.  If  these  millions  of  public  debt,  form- 
ing only  a  part  of  what  has  been  wasted  in  War,  could 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  73 

be  apportioned  among  these  poor,  it  would  give  to  each 
$450,  —  a  sum  placing  all  above  want,  and  about  equal 
to  the  average  wealth  of  an  inhabitant  of  Massachu- 
setts. 

The  public  debt  of  Great  Britain  in  1842  reached  to 
$3,827,833,102,  the  growth  of  War  since  1688.  This 
amount  is  equal  to  two  thirds  of  all  the  harvest  of 
gold  and  silver  yielded  by  Spanish  America,  including 
Mexico  and  Peru,  from  the  discovery  of  our  hemi- 
sphere by  Christopher  Columbus  to  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century,  as  calculated  by  Humboldt.^  It 
is  much  larger  than  the  mass  of  all  the  precious  metals 
constituting  at  this  moment  tlie  circulating  medium 
of  the  world.  Sometimes  it  is  rashly  said,  by  those 
who  have  given  little  attention  to  the  subject,  that 
all  this  expenditure  has  been  widely  distributed,  and 
therefore  beneficial  to  the  people ;  but  this  apology  for- 
gets that  it  has  not  been  bestowed  on  any  produc- 
tive industry  or  useful  object.  The  magnitude  of  this 
waste  appears  by  contrast.  For  instance,  the  aggre- 
gate capital  of  all  the  joint-stock  companies  in  Eng- 
land of  which  there  was  any  known  record  in  1842, 
embracing  canals,  docks,  bridges,  insurance,  banks,  gas- 
lights, water,  mines,  railways,  and  other  miscellaneous 
objects,  was  about  $  800,000,000,  —  all  devoted  to  the 
welfare  of  the  people,  but  how  much  less  in  amoimt 
than  the  War  Debt !  For  the  six  years  preceding 
1842,  the  average  payment  for  interest  on  this  debt 
was  $  141,645,157  annually.  If  we  add  to  this  sum 
the  further  annual  outlay  of  $  66,780,817  for  the  army, 
navy,  and  ordnance,  we  shall  have  $208,425,974  as 
the  annual  tax  of  the  English  people,  to  pay  for  for- 

1  New  Spain,  Vol.  III.  p.  431. 


74  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

mer  wars  and  prepare  for  new.  During  this  same 
period,  an  annual  appropriation  of  $  24,858,442  was 
sufficient  for  the  entire  civil  service.  Thus  War  con- 
sumed ninety  cents  of  every  dollar  pressed  by  heavy 
taxation  from  the  English  people.  What  fabulous  mon- 
ster, what  chimcera  dire,  ever  raged  with  a  maw  so  rav- 
enous ?  The  remaining  ten  cents  sufficed  to  maintain 
the  splendor  of  the  throne,  the  administration  of  justice, 
and  diplomatic  relations  with  foreign  powers,  —  in  short, 
all  the  more  legitimate  objects  of  a  nation.^ 

Thus  much  for  the  general  cost  of  War.  Let  us  now 
look  exclusively  at  the  Preparations  for  War  in  time  of 
Peace.  It  is  one  of  the  miseries  of  War,  that  even  in 
Peace  its  evils  continue  to  be  felt  beyond  any  other 
by  which  suffering  humanity  is  oppressed.  If  Bellona 
withdraws  from  the  field,  we  only  lose  sight  of  her  fiam- 
ing  torches;  the  baying  of  her  dogs  is  heard  on  the 
mountains,  and  civilized  man  thinks  to  find  protection 
from  their  sudden  fury  only  by  inclosing  himself  in  the 
barbarous  armor  of  battle.  At  this  moment,  the  Chris- 
tian nations,  worshipping  a  symbol  of  common  brother- 
hood, occupy  intrenched  camps,  with  armed  watch,  to 
prevent  surprise  from  each  other.  Eecognizing  War 
as  Arbiter  of  Justice,  they  hold  themselves  perpetually 
ready  for  the  bloody  umpirage. 

It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  arrive  at  any  exact 
estimate  of  these  Preparations,  ranging  under  four  dif- 
ferent heads,  —  Standing  Army,  Navy,  Fortifications, 
and  Militia,  or  irregular  troops. 

1  Here  and  in  subsequent  papes  I  have  relifd  upon  tlio  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,  the  Annual  Register,  McCulloch's  Commercial  Dictionary,  Lau- 
rie's Universal  Geograjjliy,  founded  on  the  works  of  Malte-Brun  and  Balbi, 
and  the  calculations  of  Hon.  William  .Tay,  in  War  and  Peace,  p.  16,  and 
in  his  Address  before  the  Peace  Society,  pp.  28,  29. 


THE   TRUE   GEANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  75 

The  number  of  soldiers  now  affecting  to  keep  the 
peace  of  European  Christendom,  as  a  Standing  Army, 
without  counting  the  Navy,  is  upwards  of  two  millions : 
some  estimates  place  it  as  liigh  as  three  millions.  The 
army  of  Great  Britain,  including  the  forces  in  India, 
exceeds  300,000  men  ;  that  of  France,  350,000  ;  that  of 
Russia,  730,000,  and  is  reckoned  by  some  as  high  as 
1,000,000 ;  that  of  Austria,  275,000 ;  that  of  Prussia, 
150,000.  Taking  the  smaller  number,  and  supposing 
these  two  millions  to  require  for  their  support  an  aver- 
age annual  sum  of  only  $  150  each,  the  result  would 
be  $  300,000,000  for  sustenance  alone ;  and  reckonins 
one  officer  to  ten  soldiers,  and  allowing  to  each  of  the 
latter  an  English  shilling  a  day,  or  $  88.33  a  year,  for 
wages,  and  to  the  former  an  average  annual  salary  of 
$  500,  we  have  for  the  pay  of  the  whole  no  less  than 
S  258,994,000,  or  an  appalling  sum-total,  for  both  suste- 
nance and  pay,  of  $  558,994,000  a  year.  If  the  same  cal- 
culation be  made,  supposing  the  force  three  millions,  the 
sum-total  will  be  $  838,491,000  !  But  to  this  enormous 
sum  must  be  added  another  still  more  enormous,  on 
account  of  loss  sustained  by  the  withdrawal  of  these 
hardy,  healthy  millions,  in  the  bloom  of  life,  from  use- 
ful, productive  labor.  It  is  supposed  that  it  costs  an 
average  sum  of  $500  to  rear  a  soldier,  and  that  the 
value  of  his  labor,  if  devoted  to  useful  objects,  would 
be  $  150  a  year.  Therefore,  in  setting  apart  two  mil- 
lions of  men  as  soldiers,  the  Christian  powers  sustain 
a  loss  of  $1,000,000,000  on  account  of  training, 
and  $  300,000,000  on  account  of  labor,  in  addition 
to  the  millions  annually  expended  for  sustenance  and 
pay.  So  much  for  the  Standing  Army  of  Christian 
Europe  in  time  of  Peace. 


76  THE  TRUE  GRAJSfDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

Glance  now  at  the  Navy.  The  Eoyal  Na\y  of  Great 
Britain  consists  at  present  of  557  sliij^s ;  but  deducting 
such  as  are  used  for  convict  ships,  floating  chapels,  and 
coal  depots,  the  efficient  Na\y  comprises  88  ships  of  the 
line,  109  frigates,  190  small  frigates,  corvettes,  brigs,  and 
cutters,  including  packets,  65  steamers  of  various  sizes, 
3  troop-ships  and  yachts :  in  all,  455  ships.  Of  these, 
in  1839,  190  were  in  commission,  carrying  in  all  4,202 
guns,  with  crews  numbering  34,465  men.  The  Na\y  of 
France,  though  not  comparable  with  that  of  England, 
is  of  vast  force.  By  royal  ordinance  of  1st  January, 
1837,  it  was  fixed  in  time  of  peace  at  40  ships  of  the  line, 
50  frigates,  40  steamers,  and  19  smaller  vessels,  with 
crews  numbering,  in  1839,  20,317  men.  The  Eussian 
Na\y  is  coinposed  of  two  large  fleets,  —  one  in  tlie  Gulf 
of  Finland,  and  the  other  in  the  Black  Sea ;  but  the  ex- 
act amount  of  their  force  is  a  subject  of  dispute  among 
naval  men  and  publicists.  Some  idea  of  the  Navy  may 
be  derived  from  the  number  of  hands.  The  crews  of 
the  Baltic  amounted,  in  1837,  to  not  less  than  30,800 
men,  and  those  of  the  Black  Sea  to  19,800,  or  altogether 
50,600,  —  being  nearly  equal  to  those  of  England  and 
France  combined.  The  Austrian  Navy  comprised,  in 
1837,  8  ships  of  the  line,  8  frigates,  4  sloops,  6  brigs, 
7  schooners  or  galleys,  and  smaller  vessels :  the  num- 
ber of  men  in  its  service,  in  1839,  was  4,547.  The 
Navy  of  Denmark  comprised,  at  the  close  of  1837,  7 
ships  of  the  line,  7  frigates,  5  sloops,  6  brigs,  3  schoon- 
ers, 5  cutters,  58  gunboats,  6  gun-rafts,  and  3  bomb- 
vessels,  requiring  about  6,500  men.  The  Navy  of 
Sweden  and  Norway  consisted  recently  of  238  gun- 
boats, 11  ships  of  the  line,  8  frigates,  4  corvettes,  and 
6  brigs,  with  several  smaller  vessels.     The  Navy  of 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   XATIOXS.  77 

Greece  has  32  ships  of  war,  canymg  190  guns,  with 
2,400  men.  The  Navy  of  HoUand,  in  1839,  had  8 
ships  of  the  line,  21  frigates,  15  corvettes,  21  brigs, 
and  95  gunboats.  Of  the  untold  cost  absorbed  in 
these  mighty  Preparations  it  is  impossible  to  form  an 
accurate  idea.  But  we  may  lament  that  means  so 
gigantic  are  applied  by  Christian  Europe,  in  time  of 
Peace,  to  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  such  su- 
perfluous wooden  walls. 

In  the  Fortifications  and  Arsenals  of  Europe,  crown- 
ing every  height,  commanding  every  valley,  fro^^ming 
over  every  plain  and  every  sea,  wealth  beyond  calcu- 
lation has  been  sunk.  Who  can  tell  the  immense 
sums  expended  in  hollowing  out  the  li'ving  rock  of 
Gibraltar  ?  'Who  can  calculate  the  cost  of  all  the 
Preparations  at  AVoolwdch,  its  27,000  cannon,  and  its 
small  arms  counted  by  hundreds  of  thousands  ?  France 
alone  contains  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  for- 
tified places ;  and  it  is  supposed  that  the  yet  unfinished 
fortifications  of  Paris  liave  cost  upward  of  fifty  millions 
of  dollars. 

The  cost  of  the  Militia,  or  irregular  troops,  the  Yeo- 
manry of  England,  the  National  Guard  of  Paris,  and 
the  Landwchr  and  Landsturm  of  Prussia,  must  add 
other  incalculable  sums  to  these  enormous  amounts. 

Turn  now  to  the  United  States,  separated  by  a  broad 
ocean  from  immediate  contact  with  the  Great  Powders 
of  Christendom,  bound  by  treaties  of  amity  and  com- 
merce with  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  connected  with 
all  by  strong  ties  of  mutual  interest,  and  professing  a 
devotion  to  the  principles  of  Peace.  Are  Treaties  of 
Amity  mere  words  ?  Are  relations  of  Commerce  and 
mutual  interest  mere  things  of  a  day  ?     Are  professions 


78  THE   TEUE   GRAIN'DEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

of  Peace  vain  ?  Else  why  not  repose  in  quiet,  unvexed 
by  Preparations  for  War  ? 

Colossal  as  are  European  expenditures  for  these 
purposes,  they  are  still  greater  among  us  in  proportion 
to  other  expenses  of  the  National  Government. 

It  appears  that  the  average  annual  expenses  of 
the  National  Government,  for  the  six  years  ending 
1840,  exclusive  of  payments  on  account  of  debt,  were 
$26,474,892.  Of  this  sum,  the  average  appropriation 
each  year  for  military  and  naval  pm'poses  amounted 
to  $21,328,903,  being  eighty  per  cent.  Yes,  — of  aU 
the  annual  appropriations  by  the  National  Govern- 
ment, eighty  cents  in  every  dollar  were  applied  in  this 
unproductive  manner.  The  remaining  twenty  cents  suf- 
ficed to  maintain  the  Government  in  all  its  branches, 
Executive,  Legislative,  and  Judicial,  —  the  administra- 
tion of  justice,  our  relations  with  foreign  nations,  the 
j)Ost-office,  and  all  the  lighthouses,  which,  in  happy,  use- 
ful contrast  with  the  forts,  shed  their  cheerful  signals 
over  the  rough  waves  beating  upon  our  long  and  in- 
dented coast,  from  the  Bay  of  Fundy  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi.  The  relative  expenditures  of  nations 
for  Military  Preparations  in  time  of  Peace,  exclusive 
of  payments  on  account  of  debts,  when  accurately  un- 
derstood, must  surprise  the  advocates  of  economy  in 
our  country.  In  proportion  to  the  whole  expenditure 
of  Government,  they  are,  in  Austria,  as  33  per  cent ;  in 
France,  as  38  per  cent ;  in  Prussia,  as  44  per  cent ;  in 
Great  Britain,  as  74  per  cent ;  in  the  United  States,  as 
80  per  cent !  i 

1  I  have  verified  these  results,  but  do  little  more  than  follow  ,Tudge  .Taj', 
who  has  illustrated  this  important  point  with  his  accustomed  accuracy. — 
Address  be  fort  the  Amur  icon  Peace  Svcieiij,  p.  30. 


THE  TRUE   GRANDEUK   OF   NATIONS.  79 

To  this  stupendous  waste  may  be  added  the  still 
larger  and  equally  superfluous  expenses  of  the  Militia 
throughout  the  country,  placed  recently  hy  a  candid 
and  able  writer  at  $50,000,000  a  year  I^ 

By  a  table  of  the  National  expenditures,^  exclusive  of 
payments  on  account  of  the  Pubhc  Debt,  it  appears, 
that,  in  fifty-four  years  from  the  formation  of  our 
present  Government,  that  is,  from  1789  down  to  1843, 
%  155,282,217  were  expended  for  civil  purposes,  com- 
prehending the  executive,  the  legislative,  the  judiciary, 
the  post-office,  light-houses,  and  intercourse  with  foreign 
governments.  During  this  same  period,  $370,981,521 
were  devoted  to  the  MiMtary  establishment,  and 
$169,707,214  to  the  Naval  establishment,  —  the  two 
forming  an  aggregate  of  $540,688,735.  Deducting 
from  this  amount  appropriations  during  three  years 
of  War,  and  we  find  that  more  than  four  hundred 
and  sixty  millions  were  absorbed  by  vain  Prejaarations 
for  War  in  time  of  Peace.  Add  to  this  amount  a 
moderate  sum  for  the  expenses  of  the  Militia  during 
the  same  period,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  are  placed 
at  $50,000,000  a  year,  —  for  the  past  years  we  may 
take  an  average  of  $25,000,000,  —  and  we  have  the 
enormous  sum-total  of  $1,350,000,000  piled  upon  the 
$460,000,000,  the  whole  amounting  to  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  ten  millions  of  dollars,  a  sum  not  easily  con- 
ceived by  the  human  faculties,  sunk,  under  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  National  Government,  in  mere  peacefid 
Preparations  for  War :  almost  twelve  times  as  much  as 
was  dedicated  by  the  National  Government,  during  the 
same  period,  to  all  other  purposes  whatsoever. 

1  Jay,  War  and  Peace,  p.  13. 

2  Executive  Document  No.  15,  Twenty-Eighth  Congress,  First  Session, 
pp  1018-19. 


80  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUK    OF   NATIONS. 

From  this  serried  array  of  figures  tlie  mind  instinc- 
tively recoils.  If  we  examine  them  from  a  nearer  point 
of  view,  and,  selecting  some  particular  item,  compare  it 
with  the  figures  rejDresenting  other  interests  in  the  com- 
munity, they  will  present  a  front  still  more  dread. 

Within  cannon-range  of  this  city  stands  an  institu- 
tion of  learning  which  wag  one  of  the  earliest  cares  of 
our  forefathers,  the  conscientious  Puritans.  Favored 
child  in  an  age  of  trial  and  struggle,  —  carefully  nursed 
through  a  period  of  hardship  and  anxiety,  —  endowed 
at  that  time  by  the  oblations  of  men  like  Harvard,  —  sus- 
tained from  its  first  foundation  by  the  parental  arm  of  the 
Commonwealth,  by  a  constant  succession  of  munificent 
bequests,  and  by  the  prayers  of  good  men,  —  the  Uni- 
versity at  Cambridge  now  invites  our  homage,  as  the 
most  ancient,  most  interesting,  and  most  important  seat 
of  learning  in  the  land,  —  possessing  the  oldest  and 
most  valuable  library,  —  one  of  the  largest  museums 
of  mineralogy  and  natural  history,  —  with  a  School  of 
Law  which  annually  receives  into  its  bosom  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  sons  from  all  parts  of  the  Union, 
where  they  listen  to  instruction  from  professors  whose 
names  are  among  the  most  valuable  possessions  of  tlie 
land,  —  also  a  School  of  Divinity,  fount  of  true  learning 
and  piety,  —  also  one  of  the  largest  and  most  flourish- 
ing Schools  of  Medicine  in  the  country,  —  and  besides 
these,  a  general  body  of  teachers,  twenty-seven  in  num- 
ber, many  of  whose  names  help  to  keep  the  name  of 
the  country  respectable  in  every  part  of  the  globe, 
where  science,  learning,  and  taste  are  cherished,  —  the 
whole  presided  over  at  tlds  moment  by  a  gentleman 
early  distinguished  in  public  lil'e  by  unconquerable 
energy  and  masculine  elocpience,  at  a  later  period  by 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  81 

the  unsurpassed  ability  with  which  he  administered  the 
affairs  of  our  city,  and  now,  in  a  green  old  age,  full  of 
years  and  honors,  preparing  to  lay  down  his  present 
high  trust.i  Such  is  Harvard  University;  and  as  one 
of  the  humblest  of  her  children,  hajDpy  in  the  memories 
of  a  youth  nurtured  in  her  classic  retreats,  I  cannot 
aUude  to  her  without  an  expression  of  filial  affection 
and  respect. 

It  appears  from  the  last  Eeport  of  the  Treasurer, 
that  the  wliole  available  property  of  the  University, 
the  various  accumulation  of  more  than  two  centuries 
of  generosity,  amounts  to  8  703,175. 

Change  the  scene,  and  cast  your  eyes  upon  another 
object.  There  now  swings  idly  at  her  moorings  in  this 
harbor  a  ship  of  the  line,  the  Ohio,  carrying  ninety 
guns,  finished  as  late  as  1836  at  an  expense  of 
S  547,888,  —  repaired  only  two  years  afterwards,  in 
1838,  for  $233,012,  —  with  an  armament  which  has 
cost  $53,945,  —  making  an  aggregate  of  $834,845, 
as  the  actual  outlay  at  this  moment  for  that  single 
ship,2  —  more  than  $100,000  beyond  all  the  available 
wealth  of  the  richest  and  most  ancient  seat  of  learning 
in  the  land  !  Choose  ye,  my  fellows-citizens  of  a  Chris- 
tian state,  between  the  two  caskets,  —  that  wherein  is 
the  loveliness  of  truth,  or  that  which  contains  the 
carrion  death. 

I  refer  to  the  Ohio  because  this  ship  happens  to  be 
in  our  waters  ;  but  I  do  not  take  the  strongest  case 
afforded  by  our  Na\y.  Other  ships  have  absorbed 
larger  sums.  The  expense  of  the  Delaware,  in  1842, 
had  reached  $1,051,000. 

1  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy. 

2  Executive  Document  No.  132,  Twenty-Seventh  Congress,  Third  Session. 


82  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

Pursue  the  comparison  still  further.  The  expendi- 
tures of  the  University  during  tlie  last  year,  for  the 
general  purposes  of  the  College,  the  instruction  of  the 
Undergraduates,  and  for  the  Schools  of  Law  and  Divin- 
ity, amounted  to  $47,935.  The  cost  of  the  Ohio  for 
one  year  of  service,  in  salaries,  wages,  and  provisions, 
is  $  220,000,  —  being  $  172,000  above  the  annual  expen- 
ditures of  tlie  University,  and  more  tlian  four  times  as 
much  as  those  expenditures.  In  other  words,  for  the 
annual  sum  lavished  on  a  single  ship  of  the  line,/o?^r 
institutions  like  Harvard  University  might  be  sup- 
ported. 

Furthermore,  the  pay  of  the  Captain  of  a  ship  like 
the  Ohio  is  $  4,500,  when  in  service,  —  $  3,500,  when  on 
leave  of  absence,  or  off  duty.  The  salary  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  Harvard  University  is  $2,235,  without  leave 
of  absence,  and  never  off  duty. 

If  the  large  endowments  of  Harvard  University  are 
dwarfed  by  comparison  with  a  single  ship  of  the  line, 
how  must  it  be  with  other  institutions  of  learning  and 
beneficence,  less  favored  by  the  boimty  of  many  genera- 
tions ?  The  average  cost  of  a  sloop  of  war  is  $  3 15,000,  — 
more,  probably,  than  all  the  endowments  of  those  twin 
stars  of  learning  in  the  Western  part  of  Massacliusetts, 
the  Colleges  at  AVilliamstown  and  Amherst,  and  of  that 
single  star  in  the  East,  the  guide  to  many  ingenuous 
youth,  the  Seminary  at  Andover.  The  yearly  expense 
of  a  sloop  of  war  in  service  is  about  $50,000,  —  more 
than  the  annual  expenditures  of  these  tliree  institutions 
combined. 

I  might  press  the  comparison  witli  other  institutions 
of  beneficence,  —  witli  our  annual  appropriations  for 
the    Blind,   that   noble   and   successful   charity   which 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  83 

sheds  true  lustre  upon  the  Commonwealth,  amount- 
ing to  $  12,000,  and  for  the  Insane,  another  charity 
dear  to  humanity,  amounting  to  $27,844. 

Take  all  the  institutions  of  Learning  and  Beneficence, 
the  crown  jewels  of  the  Commonwealth,  schools,  col- 
leges, hospitals,  asylums,  and  the  sums  by  which  they 
have  been  purchased  and  preserved  are  trivial  and 
beggarly,  compared  with  the  treasures  squandered  with- 
in the  borders  of  Massachusetts  in  vain  Preparations 
for  War,  —  upon  the  Navy  Yard  at  Charlestown,  with 
its  stores  on  hand,  costing  $4,741,000,  —  the  fortifi- 
cations in  the  harbors  of  Massachusetts,  where  untold 
sums  are  already  sunk,  and  it  is  now  proposed  to  sink 
$  3,875,000  more,i  —  and  the  Arsenal  at  Springfield,  con- 
taining, in  1842, 175,118  muskets,  valued  at  $  2,099,998,2 
and  maintained  by  an  annual  appropriation  of  $  200,000, 
wliose  highest  value  will  ever  be,  in  the  judgment  of  all 
lovers  of  truth,  tliat  it  inspired  a  poem  which  in  in- 
fiuence  will  be  mightier  than  a  battle,  and  will  endure 
when  arsenals  and  fortifications  have  crumbled  to  earth. 
Some  of  the  verses  of  this  Psalm  of  Peace  may  relieve 
the  detail  of  statistics,  Avhile  they  happily  blend  with 
my  argument. 

"  Were  half  the  power  that  fills  the  world  with  terror, 
Were  half  the  wealth  bestowed  on  camps  and  courts, 
Given  to  redeem  the  human  mind  from  error, 
There  were  no  need  of  arsenals  or  forts : 

"  The  warrior's  name  would  be  a  name  abhorred, 
And  every  nation  that  should  lift  again 
Its  hand  against  a  brother  on  its  forehead 

Would  wear  foreverraore  the  curse  of  Cain."  ^ 

1  Report  of  Secretary  of  War,  Senate  Document  No.  2,  Twenty-Seventh 
Congress,  Second  Session,  —  where  we  are  asked  to  invest  in  a  general  sys- 
tem of  land  defences  $  51 ,677,929. 

2  Executive  Document  No.  3,  Twenty-Seventh  Congress,  Third  Session. 

3  Longfellow,  The  Arsenal  at  Springfield. 


84  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATION'S. 

Turn  now  to  a  high  and  peculiar  interest  of  the 
nation,  the  administration  of  justice.  Perhaps  no  part 
of  our  system  is  regarded  with  more  pride  and  conti- 
dence,  especially  by  the  enlightened  sense  of  the  coun- 
tiy.  To  this,  indeed,  all  other  concerns  of  Government, 
with  all  its  complications  of  machinery,  are  in  a  man- 
ner subordinate,  since  it  is  for  the  sake  of  justice  that 
men  come  togetlier  in  communities  and  establish  laws. 
What  part  of  tlie  Government  can  compare  in  impor- 
tance with  the  National  Judiciary,  that  great  balance- 
wheel  of  the  Constitution,  controlling  the  relations  of 
the  several  States  to  each  other,  the  legislation  of  Con- 
gress and  of  the  States,  besides  private  interests  to  an 
incalculable  amount  ?  Nor  can  the  citizen  who  discerns 
the  true  glory  of  his  country  fail  to  recognize  in  the  im- 
mortal judgments  of  IVIarshall,  now  departed,  and  of 
Story,  wlio  is  still  spared  to  us  —  scrws  iji  cadum  rcdcat  ! 
—  a  higher  claim  to  admiration  and  gratitude  than  can 
be  found  in  any  triumpli  of  battle.  The  expenses  of 
this  great  department  under  the  National  Govern- 
ment, in  1842,  embracing  tlie  cost  of  court-houses,  the 
salaries  of  judges,  the  pay  of  juries,  and  of  all  the  law 
officers  throughout  the  United  States,  in  short,  all  the 
outlay  by  which  justice,  according  to  the  requirement 
of  Magna  Charta,  is  carried  to  every  man's  door, 
amounted  to  $560,990,  —  a  larger  sum  than  is  usually 
appropriated  for  this  purpose,  but  liow  insignificant, 
compared  with  the  cormorant  demands  of  Army  and 
Navy ! 

Let  me  allude  to  one  miore  curiosity  of  waste.  By  a 
calculation  founded  on  the  expenses  of  the  Navy  it 
appears  that  the  average  cost  of  eacli  gun  carried  over 
the  ocean  for  oue  year  amounts  to  about  fifteen  thou- 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   KATIUNS.  85 

sand  dollars,  —  a  sum  sufficient  to  maintain  ten  or  even 
twenty  professors  of  Colleges,  and  equal  to  the  salaries 
of  all  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachu- 
setts and  the  Governor  combined  ! 

Such  are  illustrations  of  that  tax  which  nations  con- 
stituting the  great  Federation  of  Civilization,  including 
our  o^vn  country,  impose  on  the  people,  in  time  of  pro- 
found peace,  for  no  permanent  productive  work,  for  no 
institution  of  learning,  for  no  gentle  charity,  for  no  pur- 
pose of  good.  Wearily  climbing  from  expenditure  to 
expenditure,  from  waste  to  waste,  we  seem  to  pass  be- 
yond the  region  of  ordinary  measurement;  Alps  on 
Alps  arise,  on  whose  crowning  heights  of  everlasting 
cold,  far  above  the  habitations  of  man,  where  no  green 
thing  lives,  where  no  creature  draws  breath,  w^e  behold 
the  sharp,  icy,  flashing  glacier  of  War. 

In  the  contemplation  of  this  spectacle  the  soul  swells 
with  alternate  despair  and  hope :  with  despair,  at  the 
thought  of  such  wealth,  capable  of  such  service  to  Hu- 
manity, not  merely  wasted,  but  bestowed  to  perpetuate 
Hate ;  with  hope,  as  the  blessed  vision  arises  of  all 
these  incalculable  means  secured  to  purposes  of  Peace. 
The  whole  w^orld  labors  with  poverty  and  distress  ;  and 
the  painful  question  occurs  in  Europe  more  than  here. 
What  shall  become  of  the  poor,  —  the  increasing 
Standing  Army  of  the  poor  ?  Could  the  voice  that  now 
addresses  you  penetrate  those  distant  councils,  or  coun- 
cils nearer  home,  it  would  say.  Disband  your  Standing 
Armies  of  soldiers,  employ  your  Navies  in  peaceful  and 
enriching  commerce,  abandon  Fortifications  and  Arse- 
nals, or  dedicate  them  to  works  of  Beneficence,  as  the 
statue  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  was  changed  to  the  image 


8G  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

of  a  Christian  saint ;  in  fine,  utterly  renounce  the  pres- 
ent incongruous  system  of  Armed  Peace. 

That  I  may  not  seem  to  accept  this  conchision  too 
hastily,  at  least  as  regards  our  own  coimtry,  I  shaU  con- 
sider the  asserted  usefidness  of  the  national  arma- 
ments,—  and  then  expose  the  fallacy,  at  least  in  the 
present  age  and  among  Christian  nations,  of  the  maxim, 
that  in  time  of  Peace  vre  must  prepare  for  "War. 

For  what  use  is  the  Standing  Army  of  the  United 
States .?  For  many  generations  it  has  been  a  principle 
of  freedom  to  avoid  a  standing  army ;  and  one  of  the 
complaints  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was, 
that  George  the  Third  had  quartered  large  bodies  of 
troops  in  the  Colonies.  For  the  first  years  after  the 
adoption  of  the  National  Constitution,  during  our  period 
of  weakness,  before  our  power  was  assured,  before  our 
name  had  become  respected  in  the  family  of  nations, 
under  the  administration  of  "Washington,  a  small  simi 
was  ample  for  the  military  estal)lishment  of  the  United 
States.  It  was  at  a  later  day  that  the  country',  touched 
by  martial  insanity,  abandoned  the  true  economy  of  a 
Eepublic,  and,  in  imitation  of  monarchical  powers, 
lavished  means,  grudged  to  Peace,  in  vain  preparation 
for  "War.  It  may  now  be  said  of  our  Army,  as  Dimning 
said  of  the  influence  of  the  Cro%\Ti,  it  has  increased,  is 
increasing,  and  ousfht  to  be  diminished.  At  this  mo- 
ment  there  are  in  the  countrj^  more  than  sixty  milita- 
ry posts.  For  any  of  these  it  would  be  difficult  to  pre- 
sent a  reasonaljle  apology,  —  unless,  perhaps,  on  some 
distant  Indian  frontier.  Of  what  use  is  the  detach- 
ment of  the  Second  Artillery  at  the  quiet  town  of  Xew 
London,  in  Connecticut  ?     Of  what  use  is  the  detach- 


THE   TRUE   GRA>"DErE   OF   XATIOXS.  87 

ment  of  the  First  Artillerv  in  that  pleasant  resort  of 
fashion,  Xe"«~port  -?  By  exhilarating  music  and  showy 
parade  they  may  amuse  an  idle  hour;  but  is  it  not 
equally  true  that  emotions  of  a  difierent  character  will 
be  aroused  in  thoughtful  bosoms  ?  He  must  have 
lost  something  of  sensibility'  to  the  dignity  of  human 
nature  who  can  observe,  without  at  least  a  passing 
regret,  all  the  details  of  discipline  —  drill,  marching, 
countermarching  —  which  fill  the  life  of  the  soldier,  and 
prepare  him  to  become  the  rude,  inanimate  part  of  that 
machine  to  which  an  aiTQV  is  likened  by  the  great  liv- 
ing master  of  the  Art  of  War.^  And  this  sensibility 
may  be  more  disturbed  by  the  spectacle  of  ingenuous 
youth,  in  chosen  numbers,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Government,  amidst  the  bewitching  scenery  of  West 
Point,  painfully  trained  to  these  same  exercises,  —  at  a 
cost  to  the  country,  since  the  establishment  of  this 
Academy,  of  above  four  millions  of  dollars. 

In  Europe,  Standing  Armies  are  supposed  to  be 
needed  in  support  of  Gk)vemment :  but  this  exctise  can- 
not prevail  here.  The  monarchs  of  the  Old  World,  like 
the  chiefs  of  the  ancient  Grerman  tribes,  are  upborne  on 
the  shields  of  the  soldiery.  Happily,  witih  tis,  Govern- 
ment needs  no  janizaries.  The  hearts  of  the  people  are 
a  sufficient  support. 

I  hear  a  voice  from  some  defender  of  this  abuse,  some 
upholder  of  this  "  rotten  borough,"  crying.  The  Army  is 
needed  for  defence !  As  well  might  you  say  that  the 
shadow  is  needed  for  defence.  For  what  is  the  Army 
of  the  United  States,  but  the  feeble  shadow  of  the  Amer- 
ican people  ?  In  placing  the  Array  on  its  present  footing, 
so  small   in  numbers,  compared  tcith  the  forces  of  great 

1  The  Duke  of  Weningtcn. 


88  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

European  States,  our  Government  tacitly  adm  its  its  super- 
Jluousness  for  defence.  It  only  remains  to  declare  that 
the  country  will  repose  in  the  consciousness  of  right, 
without  the  extravagance  of  soldiers,  unproductive  con- 
sumers of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  who  might  do  the 
country  good  service  in  the  various  departments  of 
useful  industry. 

For  what  itse  is  the  Navy  of  the  United  States  ? 
The  annual  expense  of  our  Navy,  during  recent  years, 
has  been  upwards  of  six  millions  of  dollars.  For  what 
purpose  ?  Not  for  the  apprehension  of  pirates,  since 
frigates  and  ships  of  the  line  are  of  too  great  bulk  for 
this  service.  Not  for  the  suppression  of  the  Slave 
Trade ;  for,  under  the  stipulations  with  Great  Britain, 
we  employ  only  eighty  guns  in  this  holy  alliance.  Not 
to  protect  our  coasts ;  for  aU  agree  that  our  few  ships 
would  form  an  unavailing  defence  against  any  serious 
attack.  Not  for  these  purposes,  you  admit ;  hut  for  the 
protection  of  our  Navigation.  This  is  not  the  occasion 
for  minute  estimates.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  an  intelli- 
gent merchant,  extensively  engaged  in  commerce  for  the 
last  twenty  years,  and  who  speaks,  therefore,  with  the 
authority  of  knowledge,  has  demonstrated,  in  a  tract  of 
perfect  clearness,^  that  the  annual  profits  of  the  whole 
mercantile  marine  of  the  country  do  not  equal  the  an- 
nual expenditure  of  our  Navy.  Admitting  the  profit 
of  a  merchant  ship  to  be  four  thousand  dollars  a  year, 
which  is  a  large  allowance,  it  will  take  the  earnings  of 
one  hundred  ships  to  b\iild  and  employ  for  one  year  a 
single  sloop  of  war,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  ships  to 
build  and  employ  a  frigate,  and  of  nearly  three  hundred 

1  I  refer  to  the  puiuplilet  of  S.  E.  Coues,  "  United  States  Navy:  What  is 
its  Use?  " 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  89 

ships  to  build  and  employ  a  ship  of  the  line.  Thus 
more  than  five  hundred  ships  nmst  do  a  profitable 
business  to  earn  a  sufficient  sum  for  the  support  of 
this  little  fleet.  Still  further,  taking  a  received  esti- 
mate putting  the  mercantile  marine  of  the  United  States 
at  forty  millions  of  dollars,  we  find  that  it  is  only  a 
little  more  than  six  times  the  annual  cost  of  the  Na\y  ; 
so  that  this  interest  is  protected  at  a  charge  of  more  than 
fifteen  ])cr  cent  of  its  whole  value  !  Protection  at  such 
price  is  not  less  ruinous  than  one  of  Pyrrhus's  victories. 

It  is  to  the  Xavy  as  an  unnecessary  arm  of  national 
defence,  and  part  of  the  War  establishment,  that  I  con- 
fine my  objection.  So  far  as  it  is  required  for  science, 
or  for  the  jtolice  of  the  seas,  —  to  scour  them  of  pirates, 
and,  above  all,  to  defeat  the  hateful  traffic  in  human 
flesh,  —  it  is  a  fit  engine  of  Government,  and  cannot  be 
obnoxious  as  a  portion  of  the  machinery  of  War.  But, 
surely,  a  most  costly  na\y  to  protect  navigation  in  time 
of  Peace  against  assaults  from  civilized  nations  is  ab- 
surdly superfluous.  The  free  cities  of  Hamburg  and 
Bremen,  survivors  of  the  powerful  Hanseatic  League, 
with  a  commerce  whitening  the  most  distant  seas,  are 
without  a  single  ship  of  war.  Following  this  prudent 
example,  the  United  States  might  be  willing  to  abandon 
an  institution  already  become  a  vain  and  expensive 
toy. 

For  ivlmt  use  are  the  Fortifications  of  the  United 
States  ?  We  have  already  seen  the  enormous  sums 
locked  in  the  odious  mortmain  of  their  everlasting 
masonry.  Like  the  Pyramids,  they  seem  by  mass  and 
solidity  to  defy  Time.  Nor  can  I  doubt  that  hereafter, 
like  these  same  monuments,  they  will  be  looked  upon 
with  wonder,  as  the  types  of  an  extinct  superstition,  not 


90  THE  TRUE   GRAXDEUR    OF   NATIONS. 

less  degrading  than  that  of  Ancient  Egj^t.  Under  the 
pretence  of  saving  the  country  from  conquest  and  blood- 
shed they  are  reared.  But  whence  the  danger  ?  On 
what  side  ?  What  people  to  fear  ?  Xo  civilized  na- 
tion threatens  our  borders  with  rapine  or  trespass. 
None  will.  Xor,  in  the  existing  state  of  civilization, 
and  under  existing  International  Law,  is  it  possible  to 
suppose  any  war  with  such  a  nation,  unless,  renoun- 
cing the  peaceful  Tribunal  of  Arbitration,  v:e  volun- 
tarily appeal  to  Trial  by  Battle.  The  fortifications 
might  be  of  service  then.  But  perhaps  they  would 
invite  the  attack  they  might  be  inadequate  to  defeat. 
According  to  a  modern  rule,  illustrated  with  admirable 
ability  in  the  diplomatic  correspondence  of  j\Ir.  Web- 
ster, non-combatants  and  their  property  on  land  are 
not  molested.  So  firmly  did  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
act  upon  this  rule,  that,  throughout  the  revengeful  cam- 
paigns of  Spain,  and  afterwards  entering  France,  Hushed 
with  the  victory  of  Waterloo,  he  directed  his  army  to 
pay  for  all  provisions,  even  the  forage  of  their  horses. 
War  is  carried  on  against  public  property,  — against 
fortifications,  navy-yards,  and  arsenals.  If  these  do  not 
exist,  where  is  its  aliment,  where  the  fuel  for  the 
flame  ?  Paradoxical  as  it  seems,  and  disparaging  to  the 
whole  trade  of  War,  it  may  be  proper  to  inquire,  wheth- 
er, according  to  acknowledjjed  laws,  now  <:rovernin«]r  this 
bloody  arbitrament,  every  new  fortification  and  every 
additional  gun  in  our  harbor  is  not  less  a  safeguard  than 
a  danger.  Do  they  not  draw  the  lightning  of  battle 
upon  our  homes,  without,  alas  !  any  conductor  to  hurry 
its  terrors  innocently  beneath  the  concealing  bosom  of 
the  earth  ? 

^or  vjhat   use   is  the  Jflilitia  of  the   United   States  ? 


THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS.  91 

This  immense  system  spreads,  with  innumerable  suck- 
ers, over  the  whole  country,  draining  its  best  life-blood, 
the  unbought  energies  of  our  youth.  The  same  painful 
discipline  which  we  observe  in  the  soldier  absorbs  their 
time,  though  to  a  less  degree  than  in  the  Eegular  Army. 
Theirs  also  is  the  savage  pomp  of  AVar.  We  read  with 
astonishment  of  the  painted  flesh  and  uncouth  vest- 
ments of  our  progenitors,  the  ancient  Britons.  But  the 
generation  will  come,  that  must  regard  with  equal  won- 
der the  pictures  of  their  ancestors  closely  dressed  in 
padded  and  well-buttoned  coats  of  blue  "  besmeared 
with  gold,"  surmounted  by  a  huge  mountain-cap  of 
shaggy  bear-skin,  and  with  a  barbarous  device,  t}qucal 
of  brute  force,  a  tiger,  painted  on  oil-skin  tied  with 
leather  to  their  backs  !  In  the  streets  of  Pisa  the 
galley-slaves  are  compelled  to  wear  dresses  stamped 
with  the  name  of  the  crime  for  which  they  are  suffering 
punishment,  —  as  theft,  robbery,  murder.  Is  it  not  a 
little  strange  that  Christians,  li\"ing  in  a  land  "  where 
bells  have  tolled  to  church,"  should  voluntarily  adopt 
devices  which,  if  they  have  any  meaning,  recognize 
the  example  of  beasts  as  worthy  of  imitation  by  man  ? 

The  general  considerations  belonging  to  Preparations 
for  War  illustrate  the  inanity  of  the  Militia  for  pur- 
poses of  national  defence.  I  do  not  know,  indeed,  that 
it  is  now  strongly  urged  on  this  ground.  It  is  oftener 
approved  as  an  important  part  of  the  'police.  I  would 
not  undervalue  the  advantage  of  an  active,  efficient, 
ever-wakeful  police ;  and  I  believe  that  such  a  police 
has  been  long  required.  But  the  Militia,  where  youth 
and  character  are  without  the  strength  of  experience,  is 
inadequate  for  this  purpose.  No  person  who  has  seen 
this  arm  of  the  police  in  an  actual  riot  can  hesitate  in 


92  THE   TI^UE    GEANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

this  judgment.  A  very  small  portion  of  the  means 
absorbed  by  the  Militia  would  provide  a  substantial 
police,  competent  to  all  the  domestic  emergencies  of 
disorder  and  violence.  The  city  of  Boston  has  discarded 
a  Fire  Department  composed  of  accidental  volunteers. 
Wliy  not  do  the  same  with  the  police,  and  set  another 
example  to  the  country  ? 

I  am  well  aware  that  efforts  to  reduce  the  Militia 
are  encountered  by  some  of  the  dearest  prejudices  of  the 
common  mind,  —  not  only  by  the  War  Spirit,  but  by 
that  other,  which  first  animates  childhood,  and,  at  a 
later  day,  "  children  of  a  larger  growth,"  inviting  to 
finery  of  dress  and  parade,  —  the  same  wliich  fantasti- 
cally bedecks  the  dusky  feather-cinctured  chief  of  the 
soft  regions  warmed  by  the  tropical  sun,  —  which  in- 
serts a  ring  in  the  nose  of  the  North  American  Indian, 
—  which  slits  the  ears  of  the  Australian  savage,  and 
tattoos  the  New  Zealand  cannibal. 

Such  are  the  national  armaments,  in  their  true  char- 
acter and  value.  Thus  far  I  have  regarded  them  in 
the  plainest  light  of  ordinary  worldly  economy,  without 
reference  to  those  higher  considerations,  drawn  from 
the  nature  and  history  of  man  and  the  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  pronounce  thcni  vain.  It  is  grateful  to 
know,  that,  though  having  yet  the  support  of  wliat 
Jeremy  Taylor  calls  "  popular  noises,"  the  other  more 
economical,  more  humane,  more  wise,  more  Christian 
system  is  daily  commending  itself  to  good  people.  On 
its  side  are  all  the  virtues  tliat  truly  elevate  a  state. 
Economy,  sick  of  pygmy  efforts  to  stanch  the  smallest 
fountain  and  rill  of  exuberant  exjienditure,  pleads  that 
here   is   a   measureless,   fathomless,   endless   river,   an 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  93 

Amazon  of  waste,  rolling  its  prodigal  waters  tiirhidly, 
ruinously,  hatefully,  to  the  sea.  It  chides  us  with 
unnatural  inconsistency,  when  we  strain  at  a  little 
twine  and  paper,  and  swallow  the  monstrous  cables 
and  armaments  of  War.  Humanity  pleads  for  the 
surpassing  interests  of  Knowledge  and  Benevolence, 
from  which  such  miglity  means  are  withdrawn.  Wis- 
dom frowns  on  these  Preparations,  as  nursing  senti- 
ments inconsistent  with  Peace ;  Christianity  calmly 
rebukes  the  spirit  in  which  they  have  their  origin,  as 
of  little  faith,  and  treaclierous  to  her  high  behests : 
while  History,  exhibiting  the  sure,  though  gradual. 
Progress  of  Man,  points  with  unerring  finger  to  that 
destiny  of  True  Grandeur,  when  nations,  like  individu- 
als, disowning  War  as  a  proper  Arbiter  of  Justice,  shall 
abandon  the  oppressive  apparatus  of  Armies,  Navies, 
and  Fortifications,  by  Avhich  it  is  waged. 

Before  considering  the  familiar  injunction,  In  time  of 
Peace  preimre  for  War,  I  hope  I  shall  not  seem  to  de- 
scend from  the  proper  sphere  of  this  discussion,  if  I 
refer  to  the  parade  of  larlarous  mottoes,  and  of  emblems 
from  beasts,  as  another  impediment  to  the  proper  ap- 
preciation of  these  Preparations.  These  mottoes  and 
emblems,  prompting  to  War,  are  obtruded  on  the  very 
ensigns  of  power  and  honor,  and,  careless  of  their  dis- 
creditable import,  men  learn  to  regard  them  with 
patriotic  pride.  In  the  armorial  bearings  of  nations 
and  individuals,  beasts  and  birds* of  prey  are  the  ex- 
emplars of  True  Grandeur.  The  lion  appears  on  the 
flag  of  England ;  the  leopard  on  the  flag  of  Scotland ; 
a  double-headed  eagle  spreads  its  wings  on  the  imperial 
standard  of  Austria,  and  again  on  that  of  Eussia ;  while 


94  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS. 

a  single-headed  eagle  was  adopted  on  the  Napoleonic 
seal,  and  thus  far  the  same  singlc-lieaded  bird  is  enougli 
for  Prussia.  The  pennons  of  knights,  after  exhausting 
the  laiown  kingdom  of  Nature,  were  disfigured  by 
imaginary  and  impossible  monsters,  grilfins,  hippogriffs, 
unicorns,  all  intended  to  represent  the  exaggeration  of 
brute  force.  The  people  of  Massachusetts  unconsciously 
adopt  this  early  standard.  The  escutcheon  used  as  the 
seal  of  the  State  has  an  unfortunate  combination,  to 
which  I  refer  briefly  by  way  of  example.  On  that  part 
in  the  language  of  heraldry  termed  the  shield  stands 
an  Indian  with  a  bow  in  his  liand,  —  certainly  no 
agreeable  memento,  except  to  those  wlio  find  honor  in 
the  disgraceful  wars  where  our  fathers  robbed  and 
murdered  King  Philip  of  Pokanoket,  and  his  tribe, 
rightful  possessors  of  the  soil.  The  crest  is  a  raised 
arm  holding  a  drawn  scchre  in  a  threatening  attitude,  — 
being  precisely  the  emblem  once  borne  on  the  flag  of 
Algiers.  The  scroll,  or  legend,  is  the  latter  of  two 
favorite  verses,  in  modern  Latin,  which  are  not  traced 
to  any  origin  more  remote  than  Algernon  Sidney,  by 
wdiom  they  were  inscribed  in  an  album  at  Copen- 
hagen :  — 

"  Manns  liaic  inimica  tjTannis 
Ense  petit placidam  sub  Ubertate  quietem.'"  l 

1  The  Earl  of  Leicester,  father  of  Sidney,  in  an  anxious  letter,  August  30, 
1660,  writes  his  son  :  "  It  is  said  tliat  the  University  of  Copenhagen  hrouglit 
their  Album  unto  you,  desiring  you  to  write  somctliing  therein,  and  that  you 
did  scribere  in  Albo  these  words  [setting  forth  the  verses],  and  put  your 
name  to  it";  and  then  he  .adds,  "  This  cannot  but  be  pul)licly  known,  if  it 

be  true Either  you  must  live  in  exile  or  very  privately  here,  and 

perhaps  not  safely."  The  restoration  of  Charles  the  Second  had  just  taken 
place.  (Meadley,  Memoirs  of  Algernon  Sidney,  pp.  84,  323-325.)  Lord 
Molesworth,  in  a  work  which  first  appeared  in  1G94,  mentions  the  verses  as 
■written  by  Sidney  in  "  the  Book  of  Jlottoes  in  the  King's  Library,"  and  then 
tells  the  story,  that  the  French  Ambassador,  who  did  not  know  a  word  of 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  95 

With  singular  unanimity,  the  Legislature  of  Massa- 
chusetts has  expressed  an  earnest  desire  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  High  Court  of  Nations  to  adjudge  inter- 
national controversies,  and  thus  supersede  the  Arbitra- 
ment of  War.  It  would  be  an  act  of  moral  dignity- 
consistent  with  these  professions,  and  becoming  the 
character  it  vaunts  before  the  world,  if  it  abandoned 
the  bellicose  escutcheon,  —  at  least,  that  Algerinc  em- 
blem, fit  only  for  corsairs,  if  not  also  the  Latin  motto 
with  its  menace  of  the  sword.  If  a  Latin  substi- 
tute for  the  latter  be  needed,  it  might  be  those  words 
of  Virgil,  "  Pacisque  imponere  morem,"  ^  or  that  sen- 
tence of  noble  truth  from  Cicero,  "  Sine  summa  justitia 
rempublicam  geri  nuUo  modo  posse  "  :  ^  the  first  a  hom- 
age to  Peace,  and  the  second  a  consecration  to  Justice. 
Where  such  a  spirit  prevailed,  there  would  be  little 
occasion  to  consider  the  question  of  War  Prepara- 
tions. 

Massachusetts  is  not  alone  in  the  bellicose  anachro- 
nism of  her  banner.  The  nation  is  in  the  same  cate- 
gory. Our  fathers  would  have  hesitated  long  before 
accepting  the  eagle  for  the  national  escutcheon,  had 
they  recalled  the  pungent  words  of  Erasmus  on  this 
most  unrepublican  bird.  "  Let  any  physiognomist,  not 
a  blunderer  in  his  trade,"  says  this  most  learned 
scholar,  "  consider  the  look  and  features  of  an  eagle, 
those  rapacious  and  wicked  eyes,  that  menacing  curve  of 
the  beak,  those  cruel  cheeks,  that  stern  front,  —  will  he 

Latin,  on  learning  their  meaning,  tore  them  from  the  book,  as  a  libel  on  the 
French  government,  and  its  influence  in  Deninark.  (Moles worth.  Account 
of  Denmark,  Preface.)  The  inference  from  this  narrative  would  seem  to  be 
that  the  verses  were  by  Sidney  himself. 

1  iEneid,  VI.  852. 

2  De  Republica,  Lib.  II.  cap.  43. 


06  THE  TRUE   GRAXDEUPv   OF  NATIONS. 

not  at  once  recognize  the  image  of  a  king,  a  magnificent 
and  majestic  king?  Add  to  these  a  dark,  ill-omened 
color,  an  mipleasing,  dreadful,  appalling  voice,  and  that 
threatening  scream  at  which  every  kind  of  animal  trem- 
bles." Proceeding  with  his  indictment,  lie  describes 
the  eagle  in  old  age  as  satisfied  with  nothing  but  blood, 
with  which  he  prolongs  his  liateful  life,  the  upper  man- 
dible growing  so  that  he  cannot  feed  on  fiesh,  wliile  the 
natural  rapacity  continues,  —  all  of  which  typifies  the 
wicked  prince.  But  the  scholar  becomes  orator,  when, 
after  mentioning  that  there  are  innumerable  species  of 
birds,  some  admirable  for  ricliness  of  plumage,  some 
remarkable  for  snowy  whiteness,  some  shining  with 
befitting  blackness,  some  pre-eminent  in  bodily  stature, 
some  notable  for  fecundity,  some  grateful  at  the  rich 
banquet,  some  pleasant  from  loquacity,  some  captivating 
in  song,  some  distinguished  for  courage,  some  created 
for  the  entertainment  of  man,  —  he  proceeds  to  say: 
"  Of  all  birds,  the  eagle  alone  has  seemed  to  wise  men 
the  apt  type  of  royalty :  not  beautiful,  not  musical,  not 
fit  for  food,  —  but  carnivorous,  ravenous,  plundering, 
destroying,  fighting,  solitary,  hateful  to  all,  the  curse 
of  all,  and  though  able  to  do  tlie  greatest  harm,  yet 
wishing  to  do  more  than  he  can."  ^  Erasmus,  who  says 
this  and  much  more,  is  no  mean  authority.  Briglitest 
and  best  among  the  scholars  who  illustrated  the  modern 
revival  of  letters,  loving  peace,  and  detesting  kings,  he 
acquired  a  contemporary  power  and  fame  such  as  letters 
never  bestowed  before,  if  since, —  at  least  until  Voltaire, 
kindred  in  versatile  genius,  UKninted  the  throne.  In 
all  the  homage  profusely  offered  to  the  latter  there  was 

1  Erasmi  Adagia,  Cliil.  III.  Cent.  VII.  Prov.  1:  Scarabceu$  aquilam.  quoBrit, 
Ilullam,  Literature  of  Europe,  Part  I.  eh.  4.  sec.  43,  44.  •* 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  97 

nothing  stronger  tlian  that  of  Luther  to  Erasmns,  when 
the  great  Eeformer  asked,  "  Who  is  the  man  whose  soul 
Erasmus  does  not  occupy,  whom  Erasmus  does  not  in- 
struct, over  whom  Erasmus  does  not  reign  ? "  His  face 
is  still  familiar  from  the  devotion  of  two  great  artists, 
Albert  Dtirer  and  Hans  Holbein,  each  of  whom  has  left 
to  us  his  portrait,  —  while  he  is  commemorated  by  a 
bronze  statue  in  Rotterdam,  his  birthplace,  and  by  a 
monument  in  the  ancient  cathedral  at  Basel,  where 
he  died.  It  is  this  renowned  scholar  who  castigates 
our  eagle.  Doubtless  for  fighting  qualities  this  royal 
bird  was  transferred  to  the  coin  and  seal  of  a  Eepublic. 
His  presence  there  shows  the  spirit  which  unconsciously 
prevailed ;  and  this  same  presence,  beyond  all  question, 
exercises  a  certain  influence,  especially  with  the  young, 
nursing  a  pride  in  that  beak  and  those  pounces  which 
are  the  menace  of  War. 

The  maxim,  In  time  of  Peace  'prepare  for  War}  is 
transmitted  from  distant  ages,  when  brute  force  was 
the  general  law.  It  is  the  terrible  inheritance  which 
painfully  reminds  present  generations  of  their  connec- 
tion w^ith  the  Past.  It  belongs  to  the  dogmas  of  bar- 
barism. It  is  the  companion  of  harsh,  tyrannical  rules 
by  which  the  happiness  of  the  many  is  offered  up  to 
the  few.     It  is  the  child  of  suspicion,  and  the  forerun- 

1  If  countenance  were  needed  in  thus  exposing  a  pernicious  maxim,  I 
might  find  it  in  the  German  philosopher  Kant,  whose  work  on  Perpetual 
Peace  treats  it  with  very  little  respect.  (Kant,  Siimmtliche  Werke,  Band 
VII.,  Zum  Eteigen  Frieden,  §  1.)  Since  this  Oration,  Sir  Robert  Peel  and 
the  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  each  Prime  Minister  of  England,  and  practically  con- 
versant with  the  question,  have  given  their  valuable  testimony  in  the  same 
direction.  Life  has  its  surprises;  and  I  confess  one  in  my  own,  when  the 
latter,  in  conversation  on  this  maxim,  most  kindly  thanked  me  for  what  I 
had  said  against  it. 


98 


THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 


ner  of  violence.  Having  in  its  favor  almost  uninter- 
rupted usage,  it  possesses  a  hold  on  popular  opinion  not 
easily  unloosed.  And  yet  no  conscientious  man  can 
fail,  on  careful  observation,  to  detect  its  mischievous 
fallacy,  —  at  hast  among  Christian  nations  in  the 2^'rcsent 
age,  —  a  fallacy  the  most  costly  the  world  has  wit- 
nessed, dooming  nations  to  annual  tribute  in  com- 
parison with  which  the  extortions  of  conquest  are  as 
the  widow's  mite.  So  true  is  what  Rousseau  said,  and 
Guizot  has  since  repeated,  that  "  a  bad  principle  is  far 
worse  than  a  bad  fact " ;  for  the  operations  of  the 
latter  are  finite,  while  those  of  the  former  are  infi- 
nite. 

I  speak  of  this  principle  with  earnestness ;  for  I 
believe  it  erroneous  and  false,  founded  in  ignorance 
and  A\Tong,  unworthy  of  civilization,  and  disgraceful  to 
Christians.  I  call  it  a  principle ;  but  it  is  a  mere  pre- 
judice, —  sustained  by  vulgar  example  only,  and  not  by 
enlightened  truth,  —  obeying  which,  we  imitate  the  early 
mariners,  who,  steering  from  headland  to  lieadland, 
hugged  the  shore,  unwilling  to  venture  upon  the  broad 
ocean,  with  the  luminaries  of  heaven  for  their  guide. 
If  not  yet  discerned  in  its  true  character,  it  is  because 
the  clear  light  of  trutli  is  discolored  and  refracted  by  an 
atmosphere  where  the  cloud  of  War  covers  all. 

Dismissing  the  actual  usage  on  the  one  side,  and  con- 
siderations of  economy  on  the  other,  I  would  regard 
these  Preparations  in  the  simple  light  of  reason,  in  a 
just  appreciation  of  the  nature  of  man,  and  in  tlie  in- 
junctions of  the  highest  truth.  Our  conclusion  will 
be  very  easy.  They  are  twice  pernicious,  and  whoso 
would  vindicate  them  must  satisfactorily  answer  these 
two  objections :  first,  that  they  inflame  the  people,  ex- 


THE   TRUE    GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS.  99 

citing  to  deeds  of  violence,  otherwise  alien  to  the  mind; 
and,  secondly,  that,  having  their  origin  in  the  low  motives 
of  distrust  and  hate,  inevitably,  by  a  sure  law  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  they  excite  to  corresponding  action  in  other 
nations.  Thus,  in  fact,  are  they  lyromoters  of  War, 
rather  than  "preservers  of  Peaee. 

In  illustration  of  the  first  objection,  it  will  occur  at 
once  to  every  inquirer  that  the  possession  of  power  is 
in  itself  dangerous,  tempting  the  purest  and  highest, 
and  too  rarely  enjoyed  without  abuse.  Nor  is  the 
power  to  employ  force  in  War  an  exception.  Nations 
possessing  the  greatest  armaments  are  the  most  bellige- 
rent. It  is  the  feebler  powers  which  enjoy  eras  of 
Peace.  Throughout  more  than  seven  hundred  years  of 
Roman  history  resounds  the  din  of  War,  with  only  two 
short  lulls  of  Peace ;  and  in  modern  times  this  din  has 
been  echoed  from  France.  But  Switzerland  has  had  no 
din.  Less  prepared,  this  Eepublic  had  less  incentive  to 
War.  Not  only  in  nations  do  we  find  this  law.  It  ap- 
plies to  individuals  also.  The  same  din  which  resounded 
in  Rome  and  was  echoed  from  France  has  filled  common 
Hfe,  and  from  the  same  cause.  The  wearing  of  arms  has 
been  a  provocative,  too  often  exciting,  as  it  furnished  the 
weapon  of  strife.  The  odious  system  of  private  quar- 
rels, with  altercation  and  hostile  meetings  even  in  the 
street,  disgracing  the  social  life  of  modern  Europe,  con- 
tinued with  this  habit.  This  was  its  origin.  But  who 
can  measure  the  extent  of  its  influence  ?  Dead  bodies 
stretched  on  the  pavements,  and  vacant  chairs  at  home, 
were  the  contemporary  witnesses.  If  death  w^as  hasty 
and  unpremeditated,  it  was  only  according  to  the  law 
of  such  encounter.  Poets  and  authors,  wearing  arms, 
were  exposed  to  the  rude  chances.     The  dramatist  Mar- 


100  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

lowe,  in  some  respects  almost  Shakespearian,  "  renowned 
for  his  rare  art  and  Mit,"  perished  ignominiously  under 
the  weapon  of  a  vulgar  adversary ;  and  Savage,  whose 
genius  and  misfortune  inspired  the  friendship  and  praise 
of  Samuel  Johnson,  was  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey  for 
murder  committed  in  a  sudden  broil.  Nothing  of  this 
could  have  occurred  without  the  habit  of  Avearing  arms, 
which  was  a  fashion.  Out  of  this  came  the  Dance  of 
Death. 

This  pernicious  influence  is  illustrated  by  Judge  Jay 
with  admirable  plainness.  He  shows  the  individual  as 
an  example  to  nations.  Listen,  a  moment,  to  what  he 
says  so  well  "The  expert  swordsman,  the  practised 
marksman,  is  ever  more  ready  to  engage  in  personal 
combats  than  the  man  who  is  unaccustomed  to  the  use  of 
deadly  weapons.  In  those  portions  of  our  country  wliere 
it  is  supposed  essential  to  personal  safety  to  go  armed 
with  pistols  and  bowie-knives  mortal  aflrays  are  so  fre- 
quent as  to  excite  but  little  attention,  and  to  secure,  with 
exceedingly  rare  exceptions,  perfect  impunity  to  the 
murderer ;  whereas  at  the  North  and  East,  where  we  are 
unprovided  with  such  facilities  for  taking  life,  compara- 
tively few  murders  of  the  kind  are  perpetrated.  We 
miglit,  indeed,  safely  submit  the  decision  of  the  princi- 
ple we  are  discussing  to  the  calculations  of  pecuniary 
interest.  Let  two  men,  ecpial  in  age  and  health,  apply 
for  an  insurance  on  their  lives,  —  one  known  to  be  ever 
armed  to  defend  his  lionor  and  his  life  against  every 
assailant,  and  the  other  a  meek,  unresisting  Quaker :  can 
we  doubt  for  a  moment  whicli  of  these  men  would  be 
deemed  by  an  Insurance  Company  most  likely  to  reach 
a  good  old  age  ? "  ^ 

1  Address  before  the  American  Peace  Society,  pp.  23,  24. 


THE   TEUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  101 

With  this  practical  statement  and  its  strong  sense  I 
leave  this  objection  to  AVar  Preparations,  adding  a  sin- 
gle supplementary  remark,  —  What  is  good  for  the  in- 
dividual is  good  for  nations. 

The  second  objection,  thougli  different  in  cliaracter,  is 
not  less  operative.  It  is  founded  on  that  law  of  hu- 
man nature  according  to  which  the  very  hate  or  dis- 
trust to  which  these  Preparations  testify  excites  in 
others  a  corresponding  sentiment.  This  law  is  general 
and  fundamental.  Though  rarely  recognized  by  nations 
as  a  rule  of  conduct,  it  was  never  without  its  influence 
on  individuals.  Indeed,  it  is  little  more  than  a  practi- 
cal illustration  of  the  Horatian  adage,  Si  vis  me  Jlere, 
dolendum  est  primum  ipsi  tibi :  If  you  wish  me  to  weep, 
you  must  yourself  first  grieve.  Nobody  questions  its 
truth  or  applicability.  But  does  it  not'  proclaim  that 
War  Preparations  in  a  period  of  professed  Peace  must 
naturally  prompt  adverse  Preparations,  and  everywhere 
within  the  circle  of  their  influence  quicken  the  Spirit 
of  War  ?  So  are  we  all  knit  together  that  the  feelings 
in  our  own  bosoms  awaken  corresponding  feelings  in 
the  bosoms  of  others,  —  as  harp  answers  to  harp  in  its 
softest  vibration,  as  deep  responds  to  deep  in  the  might 
of  its  power.  What  in  us  is  good  invites  the  good  in 
our  brother ;  generosity  begets  generosity ;  love  wins 
love  ;  Peace  secures  Peace  ;  —  while  all  in  us  that  is  bad 
challenges  the  bad  in  our  brother;  distrust  engenders 
distrust ;  hate  provokes  hate  ;  AVar  arouses  AVar.  There- 
fore are  we  admonished  to  avoid  such  appeal,  and  this 
is  the  voice  of  Nature  itself. 

This  beautiful  law  is  everywhere.  The  wretched 
maniac,  in  whose  mind  the  common  principles  of  con- 
duct are  overthrown,  confesses   its  overruling  power; 


102       THE  TRUE  GKAJ^DEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

and  the  vacant  stare  of  madness  is  illumined  by  a  word 
of  love.  The  wild  Leasts  confess  it :  and  what  is  the 
story  of  Orpheus,  whose  music  drew  in  listening  rapture 
the  lions  and  panthers  of  the  forest,  or  of  St.  Jerome, 
whose  kindness  soothed  the  lion  to  lie  down  at  his  feet, 
but  expressions  of  its  prevailing  power  ?  ^ 

Even  a  fable  may  testify.  I  would  not  be  tempted 
too  far,  but,  at  the  risk  of  protracting  this  discussion,  I 
cannot  forget  illustrations  which  show  how  poetry  at 
least,  if  not  history,  has  interpreted  the  heart  of  man. 

Looking  back  to  the  liistoric  dawn,  one  of  the  most 
touching  scenes  illumined  by  that  auroral  light  is  the 
peaceful  visit  of  the  aged  Priam  to  the  tent  of  Achilles, 
entreating  the  body  of  his  son.  The  fierce  combat  end- 
ed in  the  death  of  Hector,  whose  unhonored  corse  the 
bloody  Greek '  has  trailed  l)cliind  his  chariot.  After 
twelve  days  of  grief,  the  veneraljle  father  is  moved  to 
seek  the  remains  of  the  son  he  has  so  dearly  loved. 
He  leaves  his  lofty  cedarn  chamber,  and  with  a  single 
aged  attendant,  unarmed,  repairs  to  the  Grecian  camp 
beside  the  distant  sounding  sea.  Entering  alone,  he 
finds  Achilles  in  his  tent,  with  two  of  his  chiefs.  Grasp- 
ing his  knees,  the  father  kisses  those  terrible  homicidal 
liands  which  had  taken  the  life  of  his  son.  Touched  by 
the  sight  which  he  beholds,  the  heart  of  the  inflamed, 
the  angry,  the  inflexil)le  Achilles  responds  to  the  feelings 

1  Scholars  will  remember  the  incident  recorded  by  Homer  in  the  Odys- 
sej'  (XIV.  30,  31),  where  Uh'sses,  on  reaching  his  loved  Ithaca,  is  beset  by 
dogs,  described  as  wild  beasts  in  ferocity,  who  rush  towards  him  barking; 
but  he,  with  croft  (tliat  is  the  word  of  Homer),  seats  himself  upon  the 
ground  and  Ids  his  staff f nil  from  his  hand.  A  similar  incident  is  noticed  by 
Mr.  Mure,  in  his  entertaining  travels  in  Greece,  and  also  by  Mr.  Borrow,  in 
his  "  Bible  in  Spain."  Pliny  remarks,  that  all  dogs  may  be  appeased  in  the 
same  way :  ^'■Impetus  eorum  et  stevilia  mitiyatur  ab  homine  ccmsidenle  hunu,''^ 
Nat.  Hist.,  Lib.  Vlll.  cap.  40. 


THE   TEUE   GKAiS'DEUE   OF   NATIONS.  103 

of  Priam.  He  takes  the  suppliant  by  the  hand,  seats 
hini  by  his  side,  consoles  his  grief,  refreshes  his  weary 
body,  and  concedes  to  the  prayers  of  a  weak,  unarmed 
old  man  what  all  Troy  in  arms  could  not  win.  In  this 
scene,  which  fills  a  large  space  in  the  Iliad,^  the  master 
poet,  with  unconscious  power,  has  presented  a  picture 
of  the  omnipotence  of  that  law,  making  all  mankind 
of  kin,  in  obedience  to  which  no  word  of  kindness,  no 
act  of  confidence,  falls  idly  to  the  earth. 

Among  the  early  passages  of  Eoman  history,  per- 
haps none  makes  a  deeper  impression  than  that  scene, 
after  the  Eoman  youth  were  consumed  at  the  Allia,  and 
the  invading  Gauls  under  Brennus  had  entered  the  city, 
where  in  a  temple  were  seated  the  venerable  Senators 
of  the  Eepublic,  too  old  to  flee,  and  careless  of  surviv- 
ing the  Eoman  name,  each  on  his  curule  chair,  unarmed, 
looking,  as  Livy  says,  more  august  than  mortal,  and 
with  the  majesty  of  the  gods.  Tlie  Gauls  gaze  as  upon 
sacred  images ;  and  the  hand  of  slaughter,  which  had 
raged  through  the  streets  of  Eome,  is  stayed  by  the 
sight  of  an  unarmed  assembly.  This  continued  until 
one  of  the  invaders  standing  nearest  reached  his  hand 
to  stroke  gently  the  silver  beard  of  a  Senator,  who,  in- 
dignant at  the  license,  smote  the  barbarian  with  his 
ivory  staff,  which  was  the  signal  for  general  vengeance. 
Think  you  that  a  band  of  savages  could  have  slain  these 
Senators,  if  the  airijcal  to  Force  had  not  been  made  first 
by  one  of  their  own  number  ?  This  story,  though  re- 
counted by  Livy,  and  also  by  Plutarch,^  is  repudiated 
by  Niebuhr;  but  it  is  none  the  less  interesting  as  a 
legend,  attesting  the  law  by  which  hostile  feelings  are 
aroused  or  subdued. 

1  Book  XXIV.  2  Liv.,  Lib.  V.  cap.  41.    Plutarch,  Life  of  Camillus. 


104  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

This  great  scene,  in  its  essential  parts,  has  been  re- 
peated in  another  age  and  country.  The  theatre  was 
an  African  wilderness,  with  Christian  converts  for  Ro- 
man Senators.  The  little  band,  with  their  pastor,  who 
was  a  local  chief,  assembled  on  a  Sabbath  morning  for 
prayer,  when  suddenly  robbers  came  upon  them,  as  the 
Gauls  upon  Eome,  and  demanded  cattle.  The  pastor, 
asking  his  people  to  sit  still,  calmly  pointed  to  the  cat- 
tle, and  then  turned  back  to  unite  with  the  rest  in 
prayer.  The  robbers,  like  the  Gauls,  looked  on  in 
silence,  awed  into  forbearance,  until  they  quietly  with- 
drew, injuring  nobody  and  touching  nothing.  Such 
an  instance,  wliich  is  derived  from  the  report  of  mis- 
sionaries,^ testifies  again  to  the  might  of  meekness, 
and  proves  that  the  Eoman  story,  though  reduced 
to  the  condition  of  a  legend,  is  in  harmony  with  actual 
Hfe. 

An  admired  picture  by  Virgil,  in  his  melodious  epic, 
furnishes  similar  testimony.  The  Trojan  Heet,  beaten 
by  tempest  on  the  raging  waves,  is  about  to  succumb, 
when  the  God  of  the  Sea,  suddenly  appearing  in  tran- 
quil power,  stills  the  hostile  elements,  as  a  man  vener- 
able for  piety  and  deserts  by  a  gentle  word  assuages  a 
furious  populace  just  breaking  into  sedition  and  out- 
rage.^ The  sea  and  the  populace  were  equally  appeased. 
Alike  in  the  god  and  the  man  was  the  same  peaceful 
presence.  Elsewhere  is  this  same  influence.  Guizot, 
illustrates  this  same  influence,  when,  describing  the 
development  of  mediaeval  civilization^  he  exhibits  an 
angry   multitude   subdued   by  an  unarmed   man,   em- 

1  'MofTut,  'Missionary  T.iibors  aiid  Scenes  in  Soutliorn  Africa,  Ch.  32. 
8  "  llle  regit  dictis  animos  et  pectoru  mulcet." 

jEneid,  I.  146-  154. 


THE  TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  105 

ploying  the  word  instead  of  the  sivorcl}  And  surely 
no  reader  of  that  noble  historical  romance,  the  Pro- 
messi  Sposi,  can  forget  that  finest  scene,  where  Era 
Cristoforo,  in  an  age  of  violence,  after  slaying  his 
comrade  in  a  broil,  presents  himself  unarmed  and  peni- 
tent before  the  family  and  retainers  of  his  victim,  and 
by  dignified  gentleness  awakens  the  admiration  of 
men  raging  against  him.  Both  hemispheres  are  at 
this  moment  occupied  with  the  popular  romance,  Ze 
Jidf  Errant,  by  Eugene  Sue,  where  is  an  interesting 
picture  of  Christian  courage  superior  to  the  trained  vio- 
lence of  the  soldier.  Another  example,  made  familiar 
by  recent  translations  of  Frithiof's  Saga,  the  Swedish 
epic,^  is  more  emphatic.  The  scene  is  a  battle.  Frithiof 
is  in  deadly  combat  with  Atle,  when  the  falchion  of  the 
latter  breaks.  Throwing  away  liis  own  weapon,  Fritliiof 
says,  — 

"  Swordless  foemari' s  life 
Ne'er  dyed  this  gallant  blade." 

The  two  champions  now  close  in  mutual  clutch ;  they 
hug  like  bears,  says  the  poet. 

"  'T  is  o'er  ;  for  Frithiof  s  matchless  strength 

Has  felled  his  ponderous  size, 
And  'neath  that  knee,  a  giant  length, 

Supine  the  Viking  lies. 
'  But  fails  my  sword,  thou  Berserk  swart,' 

The  voice  rang  far  and  wide, 
'Its  point  should  pierce  thy  inmost  heart, 

Its  hilt  should  drink  the  tide.' 
'  Be  fi-ee  to  lift  the  weaponed  hand,' 

Undaunted  Atle  spoke ; 
Hence,  fearless,  quest  thy  distant  brand: 

Thus  I  abide  the  stroke.'  " 

Frithiof  regains  his  sword,  intent  to  close  the  dread  de- 

1  Guizot,  Histoire  de  la  Civilisation  en  France,  Tom.  IT.  p.  36. 

2  Longfellow,  Poets  and  Poetry  of  Europe,  p.  161 :  Tegn^r. 


106       THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

bate,  while  his  adversary  awaits  the  stroke  ;  but  his  heart 
responds  to  the  generous  courage  of  his  foe ;  he  cannot 
injure  one  who  has  shown  such  confidence  in  him. 

"  This  quelled  his  ire,  (his  checked  his  arm, 
Outstretched  the  hand  of  peace." 

I  cannot  leave  these  illustrations  without  alluding 
again  to  the  treatment  of  the  insane,  teaching,  by  con- 
clusive example,  how  strong  in  Nature  must  be  the 
responsive  principle.  On  proposing  to  remove  the  heavy 
chains  from  the  raving  maniacs  of  the  Paris  hospitals, 
the  benevolent  Pinel  was  regarded  as  one  wdio  saw 
visions  or  dreamed  dreams.  At  last  his  wishes  were 
gratified.  The  change  in  the  patients  was  immediate ; 
the  wrinkled  front  of  warring  passion  was  smoothed  into 
the  serene  countenance  of  Peace.  The  treatment  by 
Force  is  now  universally  abandoned ;  the  law  of  kind- 
ness .takes  its  j)lace;  and  these  unfortunates  mingle  to- 
gether, unvexed  by  restraints  implying  suspicion,  and 
therefore  arousing  opposition.  What  an  example  to 
nations,  who  are  little  better  than  insane  !  The  an- 
cient hospitals,  with  their  violent  madness,  making  con- 
fusion and  strife,  are  a  dark,  but  feeble,  type  of  the 
Christian  nations,  obliged  to  wear  the  intolerable  chains 
of  War,  assimilating  the  world  to  one  great  madhouse ; 
while  the  peace  and  good-will  now  abounding  in  these 
retreats  are  the  happy  emblems  of  what  awaits  man- 
kind when  at  last  we  practically  recognize  the  sujDrem- 
acy  of  those  higher  sentiments  whicli  are  at  once  a 
strength  and  a  charm,  — 

"  making  their  future  might 
Magnetic  o'er  the  fixed,  untrembling  heart." 

I  might  dwell  also  on  recent  experience,  so  full  of 
delightful  wisdom,  in  the  treatment  of  the  distant,  de- 


THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS.       107 

graded  convict  of  'New  South  Wales,  showing  how  con- 
fidence and  kindness  on  the  part  of  overseers  awaken  a 
corresponding  sentiment  even  in  outcasts,  from  whose 
souls  virtue  seems  blotted  out. 

Thus,  from  all  quarters  and  sources  —  the  far-off 
Past,  the  far-away  Pacific,  tlie  verse  of  the  poet,  the 
legend  of  history,  the  cell  of  the  mad-house,  the  con- 
gregation of  transported  criminals,  the  experience  of 
daily  life,  the  universal  heart  of  man  —  ascends  spon- 
taneous tribute  to  that  law  according  to  which  we 
respond  to  the  sentiments  by  which  we  are  addressed, 
whether  of  love  or  hate,  of  confidence  or  distrust. 

If  it  be  urged  that  these  instances  are  exceptional, 
I  reply  at  once,  that  it  is  not  so.  They  are  indubitable 
evidence  of  the  real  man,  revealing  the  divinity  of 
Humanity,  out  of  wliich  goodness,  happiness,  true  great- 
ness can  alone  proceed.  They  disclose  susceptibilities 
confined  to  no  particular  race,  no  special  period  of  time, 
no  narrow  circle  of  knowledge  or  refinement,  but  pres- 
ent wherever  two  or  more  human  beings  come  together, 
and  strong  in  proportion  to  their  virtue  and  intelli- 
gence. Therefore  on  the  nature  of  man,  as  impregnable 
ground,  do  I  place  the  fallacy  of  this  most  costly  and 
pernicious  prejudice. 

Nor  is  Human  Nature  the  only  witness  :  Christianity 
testifies  in  familiar  texts,  and  then  again  by  holiest  lips. 
Augustine,  in  one  of  his  persuasive  letters,  protests, 
with  proverbial  heart  of  flame,  against  turning  Peace 
into  a  Preparation  for  War,  and  then  tells  the  soldier 
whom  he  addresses  to  be  pacific  even  in  war}     From 

1  "  Non  enim  pax  quteritur  ut  bellum  excitetur Esto  ergo  etiam  bel- 

lando  pacificus."  —  Augustini  Epistola  GOV.,  ad  Bonifacium  Gomitem: 
Opera,  Tom.  II.  p.  318. 


108  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

the  religion  of  liis  Master  the  great  Christian  saint  had 
learned  that  Love  is  more  puissant  than  Force.  To  the 
reflecting  mind,  the  Omnipotence  of  God  himseK  is 
less  discernible  in  earthquake  and  storm  than  in  the 
gentle,  but  quickening,  rays  of  the  sun,  and  the  sweet 
descending  dews.  He  is  a  careless  observer  who  does 
not  recognize  the  superiority  of  gentleness  and  kindness 
in  exercising  influence  or  securing  rights  among  men. 
As  the  storms  of  violence  beat  upon  us,  we  hug  man- 
tles gladly  thrown  aside  under  the  warmth  of  a  genial 
sun. 

Christianity  not  only  teaches  the  superiority  of  Love 
to  Force,  it  positively  enjoins  the  practice  of  the  for- 
mer, as  a  constant,  primal  duty.  It  says,  "  Love  your 
neighbors  " ;  but  it  does  not  say,  "  In  time  of  Peace 
rear  the  massive  fortification,  Ijuild  the  man-of-war,  en- 
list standing  armies,  train  militia,  and  accumulate  mili- 
tary stores,  to  overawe  and  menace  your  neighbor." 
It  directs  that  .we  should  do  to  others  as  we  would 
have  them  do  to  us,  —  a  golden  rule  for  all ;  but  how 
inconsistent  is  that  distrust  in  obedience  to  which 
nations  professing  peace  sleep  like  soldiers  on  their 
arms  !  Nor  is  this  all.  Its  precepts  inculcate  patience, 
forbearance,  forgiveness  of  evil,  even  the  duty  of  benefit- 
ing a  destroyer,  "  as  the  sandal- wood,  in  the  instant 
of  its  overthrow,  sheds  perfume  on  the  axe  which  fells 
it."  Can  a  people  in  whom  tliis  faith  is  more  than  an 
idle  word  authorize  such  enormous  sacrifices  to  pamper 
the  Spirit  of  War  ?  Thus  far  nations  liave  drawn  their 
weapons  from  earthly  armories,  unmindful  that  there 
are  others  of  celestial  temper. 

Tlie  injunction,  "  Love  one  another,"  is  as  applicable 
to  nations  as  to  individuals.     It  is  one  of  the  areat  laws 


THE   TEUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  109 

of  Heaven.  And  nations,  like  individuals,  may  well 
measure  their  nearness  to  God  and  to  his  glory  by  the 
conformity  of  their  conduct  to  this  duty. 

In  response  to  arguments  founded  on  economy,  the 
true  nature  of  man,  and  Christianity,  I  hear  the  skepti- 
cal note  of  some  advocate  of  the  transmitted  order  of 
things,  some  one  among  the  "  fire-worshippers  "  of  War, 
saying,  All  this  is  beautiful,  but  visionary  ;  it  is  in  ad- 
vance of  the  age,  which  is  not  yet  prepared  for  the  great 
change.  To  such  I  answer :  Nothing  can  be  beautiful 
that  is  not  true ;  but  all  this  is  true,  and  the  time  has 
come  for  its  acceptance.  Now  is  the  dawning  day,  and 
now  the  fitting  hour. 

The  name  of  Washington  is  invoked  as  authority  for 
a  prejudice  which  Economy,  Human  Nature,  and  Chris- 
tianity repudiate.  Mighty  and  reverend  as  is  his  name, 
more  mighty  and  more  reverend  is  Truth.  The  words 
of  counsel  which  he  gave  were  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  of  his  age,  —  wliich  M^as  not  shocked  by  the 
slave-trade.  But  his  great  soul,  which  loved  virtue 
and  inculcated  justice  and  benevolence,  frowns  upon 
those  who  would  use  his  authority  as  an  incentive 
to  War.  God  forbid  that  his  sacred  character  should 
be  profanely  stretched,  like  the  skin  of  John  Ziska,  on 
a  militia-drum,  to  arouse  the  martial  ardor  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  ! 

The  practice  of  Washington,  during  the  eight  years 
of  his  administration,  compared  with  that  of  the  last 
eight  years  for  which  we  have  the  returns,  may  explain 
his  real  opinions.  His  condemnation  of  the  present 
wasteful  system  speaks  to  us  from  the  following  table.^ 

1  Executive  Document  No.  15,  Twenty-eighth  Congress,  First  Session. 


no 


THE   TKUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 


Tears. 

Military 
Establishment. 

Naval 
Establishment. 

1789-91 
1792 
1793 
1794 
1795 
1796 
Total,  during  eight 
years  of  Washington, 

1835 
1836 
1837 
1838 
1839 
1840 
1841 
1842 
Total,  during  eight 
recent  years, 

$835,618 
1,223,594 
1,237,620 
2,733,539 
2,573,059 
1,474,672 
1     $70,078,102 

$9,420,313 
19,667,166 
20,702,929 
20,557,473 
14,588.664 
12,0.30,624 
13,704,882 
9,188,469 
1    $119,860,520 

$570 
53! 

61,409 

4I0,.562 

274,784 

$747,378 

$3,864,939 
5,807,718 
6,646,915 
6,131,581 
6,182,294 
6,113,897 
6,001,077 
8,397,243 

$49,145,664 

Thus  the  expenditures  for  the  national  armaments  un- 
der the  sanction  of  Washington  "were  less  than  eleven 
million  dollars,  while  during  a  recent  similar  period  of 
eight  years  they  amounted  to  upwards  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty-nine  millions, — an  increase  of  nearly  fifteen 
hundred  per  cent  !  To  him  who  quotes  the  precept  of 
Washington  I  commend  the  example.  He  must  be 
strongly  possessed  by  the  martial  mania  who  will  not 
confess,  that,  in  this  age,  when  the  whole  world  is  at 
peace,  and  our  national  power  is  assured,  there  is  less 
need  of  these  Pre})arations  than  in  an  age  convulsed 
with  War,  when  our  national  power  was  little  respected. 
The  only  semblance  of  argument  in  their  favor  is  the 
increased  wealth  of  the  country  ;  but  the  capacity  to 
endure  taxation  is  no  criterion  of  its  justice,  or  even  of 
its  expediency.- 

Anotlier  fallacy  is  also  invoked,  tliat  whatever  is  is 
right.     A  barbaro\is  practice  is  elevated  above  all  those 


THE   TRUE    GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  Ill 

authorities  by  which  these  Preparations  are  condemned. 
We  are  made  to  count  principles  as  nothing,  because 
not  yet  recognized  by  nations.  But  they  are  practically 
applied  in  the  relations  of  individuals,  towns,  counties, 
and  states  in  our  Union.  All  these  have  disarmed.  It 
remains  only  that  they  should  be  extended  to  the 
grander  sphere  of  nations.  Be  it  our  duty  to  proclaim 
the  principles,  whatever  the  practice.  Through  us  let 
Truth  speak. 

From  the  past  and  the  present  auspicious  omens 
cheer  us  for  the  future.  The  terrible  wars  of  the 
French  Revolution  were  the  violent  rending  of  the 
body  preceding  the  exorcism  of  the  fiend.  Since  the 
morning  stars  first  sang  together,  the  world  has  not  wit- 
nessed a  peace  so  harmonious  and  enduring  as  that 
which  now  blesses  the  Christian  nations.  Great  ques- 
tions, fraught  with  strife,  and  in  another  age  heralds 
of  War,  are  now  determined  by  Mediation  or  Arbitra- 
tion. Great  political  movements,  which  a  few  short 
years  ago  must  have  led  to  bloody  encounter,  are  now 
conducted  by  peaceful  discussion.  Literature,  the  press, 
and  innumerable  societies,  all  join  in  the  work  of  incul- 
cating good-will  to  man.  The  Spirit  of  Humanity  per- 
vades the  best  writings,  whether  the  elevated  philo- 
sophical inquiries  of  the  "  Vestiges  of  the  Creation,"  the 
ingenious,  but  melancholy,  moralizings  of  the  "  Story  of 
a  Feather,"  or  the  overflowing  raillery  of  "  Punch."  Nor 
can  the  breathing  thought  and  burning  word  of  poet  or 
orator  have  a  higher  inspiration.  Genius  is  never  so 
Promethean  as  when  it  bears  the  heavenly  fire  to  the 
hearths  of  men. 

In  the  last  age,  Dr.  Johnson  uttered  the  detestable 


112       THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

sentiment,  that  he  liked  "  a  good  Hater."  The  man  of 
this  age  will  say  that  he  likes  "  a  good  Lover."  Thus 
reversing  the  objects  of  regard,  he  follows  a  higher  wis- 
dom and  a  purer  religion  than  the  renowned  moralist 
knew.  He  recognizes  that  peculiar  Heaven-born  senti- 
ment, the  Brotherhood  of  Man,  soon  to  become  the  de- 
cisive touchstone  of  human  institutions.  He  confesses 
the  power  of  Love,  destined  to  enter  more  and  more 
into  the  concerns  of  life.  And  as  Love  is  more  heaven- 
ly than  Hate,  so  must  its  influence  redound  more  to  the 
true  glory  of  man  and  the  approval  of  God.  A  Chris- 
tian poet  —  whose  few  verses  bear  him  with  unflagging 
wing  in  immortal  flight  —  has  joined  this  sentiment 
with  Prayer.  Thus  he  speaks,  in  ^^'ords  of  uncommon 
pathos  and  power  :  — 

"  He  prayeth  well  who  lovetli  well 
Both  man  and  bird  and  beast. 

"  He  prayeth  best  who  loveth  best 
All  things,  both  great  and  small; 
For  the  dear  God  who  loveth  us, 
He  made  and  loveth  all."  i 

The  ancient  Law  of  Hate  is  yielding  to  the  Law  of 
Love.  It  is  seen  in  manifold  labors  of  philanthropy 
and  in  missions  of  charity.  It  is  seen  in  institutions 
for  the  insane,  the  blind,  the  deaf,  the  dumb,  the  poor, 
the  outcast,  —  in  generous  efforts  to  relieve  those  who 
are  in  prison,  —  in  public  schools,  opening  the  gates  of 
knowledge  to  all  the  children  of  the  land.  It  is  seen  in 
the  diffusive  amenities  of  social  life,  and  in  the  increas- 
ing fellowship  of  nations  ;  also  in  the  rising  opposition 
to  Slavery  and  to  War. 

There  are  yet  other  special  auguries  of  this  great 

1  Coleridge,  Rime  of  the  Ancient  Mariner,  Part  VH. 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  113 

change,  auspicating,  in  the  natural  progress  of  man,  the 
abandonment  of  all  international  Preparations  for  War. 
To  these  I  allude  briefly,  but  with  a  deep  conviction  of 
their  significance. 

Look  at  the  Past,  and  see  how  AVar  itself  is  changed, 
so  that  its  oldest  "  fire-worshipper  "  would  hardly  know 
it.  At  first  nothing  but  savagery,  with  disgusting  rites, 
whether  in  the  North  American  Indian  with  Powhatan 
as  chief,  or  the  earlier  Assyrian  with  Nebuchadnezzar  as 
king,  but  yielding  gradually  to  the  influence  of  civiliza- 
tion. With  the  Greeks  it  was  less  savage,  but  always 
barbarous,  —  also  with  Eome  always  barbarous.  Too 
slowly  Christianity  exerted  a  humanizing  power.  Ra- 
belais relates  how  the  friar  Jean  des  Entommeures 
clubbed  twelve  thousand  and  more  enemies,  "  without 
mentioning  women  and  children,  which  is  understood 
always."  But  this  was  War,  as  seen  by  that  great  ge- 
nius in  his  day.  This  can  be  no  longer.  AVomen  and 
children  are  safe  now.  The  divine  metamorphosis  has 
begun. 

Look  again  at  the  Past,  and  observe  the  change  in 
dress.  Down  to  a  period  quite  recent  the  sword  was  the 
indispensable  companion  of  the  gentleman,  wherever  he 
appeared,  whether  in  street  or  society  ;  but  he  would  be 
deemed  madman  or  bully  who  should  wear  it  now.  At 
an  earlier  period  the  armor  of  complete  steel  was  the 
habiliment  of  the  knight.  From  the  picturesque  sketch 
by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  the  "  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel," 
we  learn  the  barbarous  constraint  of  this  custom. 

"  Ten  of  them  were  sheathed  in  steel, 
With  belted  sword,  and  spur  on  heel; 
They  quitted  not  their  harness  bright, 
Neither  by  day  nor  yet  by  night: 


114       THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

They  lay  down  to  rest 

With  corslet  laced, 
Pillowed  on  buckler  cold  and  hard; 

The}'  carved  at  the  meal 

With  gloves  of  steel, 
And  they  drank  the  red  wine  through  the  helmet  barred." 

But  all  this  is  changed  now. 

Observe  the  change  in  architecture  and  in  domestic 
life.  Places  once  chosen  for  castles  or  houses  were 
savage,  inaccessible  retreats,  where  the  massive  struc- 
ture was  reared  to  repel  attack  and  to  enclose  its  in- 
habitants. Even  monasteries  and  churches  were  forti- 
fied, and  girdled  by  towers,  ramparts,  and  ditches,  — 
while  a  child  was  stationed  as  watchman,  to  observe 
what  passed  at  a  distance,  and  announce  the  approach  of 
an  enemy.  Homes  of  peaceful  citizens  in  towns  were  cas- 
tellated, often  without  so  much  as  an  aperture  for  light 
near  the  ground,  but  with  loopholes  through  which  the 
shafts  of  the  crossbow  were  aimed.  The  colored  plates 
now  so  common,  from  mediteval  illustrations,  especially 
of  Froissart,  exhibit  these  Ijclligercnt  armaments,  always 
so  burdensome.  From  a  letter  of  jMargaret  Paston,  in 
the  time  of  Henry  the  Sixtli,  of  England,  I  draw  sup- 
plementary testimony.  Addressing  in  dutiful  phrase 
her  "  right  worshipful  husband,"  she  asks  him  to  pro- 
cure for  her  "  some  crossbows,  and  wj'ndacs  [grappling- 
irons]  to  bind  them  with,  and  quarrels  [arrows  with 
square  heads],"  also  "two  or  three  short  pole-axes  to 
keep  within  doors " ;  and  she  tells  her  absent  lord  of 
apparent  preparations  by  a  neighbor,  — "  great  ord- 
nance Mithin  the  house,"  " bars  to  bar  the  door  cross- 
wise," and  "  wickets  on  every  quarter  of  the  house  to 
shoot  out  at,  both  witlt  bows  and  with  hand-guns."  ^ 

1  Paston  Letters,  CXIII.  (LXXVII.  Vol.  III.  p.  316.) 


THE   TKUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  115 

Savages  could  hardly  live  in  greater  distrust.     Let  now 
the  Poet  of  Chivalry  describe  another  scene  :  — 

"  Ten  squires,  ten  yeomen,  mail-clad  men, 
Waited  the  beck  of  the  warders  ten; 
Thirty  steeds,  both  fleet  and  wight, 
Stood  saddled  in  stable  day  and  night, 
Barbed  with  frontlet  of  steel,  I  trow, 
And  with  Jed  wood  axe  at  saddle-bow; 
A  hundred  more  fed  free  in  stall : 
Such  was  the  custom  of  Branksome  Hall." 

This  also  is  all  changed  now. 

The  principles  causing  this  change  are  not  only  ac- 
tive still,  but  increasing  in  activity  ;  nor  can  they  be 
confined  to  individuals.  Nations  must  soon  declare 
them,  and,  abandoning  martial  habiliments  and  forti- 
fications, enter  upon  peaceful,  unarmed  life.  With 
shame  let  it  be  said,  that  they  continue  to  live  in  the 
very  relations  of  distrust  towards  neighbors  which 
shock  us  in  the  knights  of  Branksome  Hall,  and  in  the 
house  of  jMargaret  Paston.  They  pillow  themselves  on 
"  buckler  cold  and  hard,"  while  tlieir  highest  anxiety 
and  largest  expenditure  are  for  the  accumulation  of  new 
munitions  of  War.  The  barbarism  which  individuals 
have  renounced  nations  still  cherish.  So  doing,  they  take 
counsel  of  the  wild-boar  in  the  fable,  who  whetted  his 
tusks  on  a  tree  of  the  forest  when  no  enemy  was  near, 
saying,  that  in  time  of  Peace  he  must  prepare  for  War. 
Has  not  the  time  come,  when  man,  whom  God  created 
in  his  own  image,  and  to  whom  he  gave  the  Heaven- 
directed  countenance,  shall  cease  to  look  down  to  the 
beast  for  an  example  of  conduct  ?  Nay,  let  me  not 
dishonor  the  beasts  by  the  comparison.  The  superior 
animals,  at  least,  prey  not,  like  men,  upon  their  o\\'n 
species.     The  kingly  lion  turns  from  liis  brother  lion  ; 


116  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

the  ferocious  tiger  will  not  raven  upon  his  kindred 
tiger ;  the  wild-boar  of  the  forest  does  not  glut  his 
sharpened  tusks  upon  a  kindred  boar. 

"  Sed  jam  serpentuin  major  concordia:  parcit 
Cogiiatis  maculis  similis  fera:  quando  leoni 
Fortior  eripuit  vitam  leo?  quo  nemore  uiiquam 
Exspiravit  aper  majoris  dentilms  apri  ? 
Indica  tigris  agit  rabida  cum  tigride /»acem 
Peiyetuamy  i 

To  an  early  monarch  of  France  just  homage  has  been 
offered  for  effort  in  the  cause  of  Peace,  particularly  in 
abolishing  the  Trial  by  Battle.  To  another  monarch  of 
France,  in  our  own  day,  descendant  of  St.  Louis,  and 
lover  of  Peace  worthy  of  the  illustrious  lineage,  Louis 
Philippe,  belongs  the  honest  fame  of  first  from  the 
throne  publishing  the  trutli  that  Peace  is  endangered 
by  Preparations  for  War.  "  The  sentiment,  or  rather 
the  principle,"  he  says,  in  reply  to  an  address  from  the 
London  Peace  Convention  in  1843,  "  that  in  Peace  you 
must  prepare  for  War,  is  one  of  difficulty  and  danger- ; 
for  while  we  keep  armies  on  land  to  preserve  peace,  they 
are  at  the  same  time  incentives  and  instruments  of  war. 
He  rejoiced  in  all  efforts  to  preserve  peace,  for  that  was 
what  all  needed.  He  thought  the  time  was  coming  when 
we  should  get  rid  entirely  of  war  in  all  civilized  coun- 
tries." This  time  has  been  hailed  by  a  generous  voice 
from  the  Army  itself,  by  a  Marshal  of  France,  —  Bu- 
geaud,  the  Governor  of  Algiers,  —  who,  at  a  public  dinner 
in  Paris,  gave  as  a  toast  these  words  of  salutation  to  a 
new  and  approaching  era  of  happiness  :  "  To  the  pacific 
union  of  the  great  human  family,  by  the  association  of 
individuals,  nations,  and  races  !  To  the  annihilation  of 
War !     To  the  transformation  of  destructive  armies  into 

1  Juvenal,  Sat.  XV.  159-164. 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF  NATIONS.  117 

corps  of  industrious  laborers,  who  will  consecrate  their 
lives  to  the  cultivation  and  embellishment  of  the 
world  ! "  Be  it  our  duty  to  speed  this  consummation  ! 
And  may  other  soldiers  emulate  the  pacific  aspiration 
of  this  veteran  chief,  until  the  trade  of  JVa?'  ceases  from 
the  earth  !  ^ 

To  William  Penn  belongs  the  distinction,  destined  to 
brighten  as  men  advance  in  virtue,  of  first  in  human 
history  establishing  the  Latu  of  Love  as  a  rule  of  conduct 
in  file"  intercourse  of  nations.  While  recognizing  the 
duty  "  to  support  power  in  reverence  with  the  people, 
and  to  secure  the  people  from  the  abuse  of  power,"  ^  as  a 
great  end  of  government,  he  declined  the  superfluous 
protection  of  arms  against  foreign  force,  and  aimed  to 
"  reduce  the  savage  nations  by  just  and  gentle  manners 
to  the  love  of  civil  society  and  the  Christian  religion." 
His  serene  countenance,  as  he  stands  with  his  followers 
in  what  he  called  the  sweet  and  clear  air  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, all  unarmed,  beneath  the  spreading  elm,  forming 
the  great  treaty  of  friendship  with  the  untutored  Indi- 
ans, —  whose  savage  display  fills  the  surrounding  forest 
as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  —  not  to  wrest  their  lands 
by  violence,  but  to  obtain  them  by  peaceful  purchase, 
—  is  to  my  mind  the  proudest  picture  in  the  history  of 

1  There  was  a  moment  when  the  aspiration  of  the  French  marshal 
seemed  fulfilled  even  in  France,  if  we  may  credit  the  early  Madame  de 
Lafayette,  who,  in  the  first  sentence  of  her  Memoirs,  announces  perfect 
tranquillity,  where  "  no  other  arms  were  known  than  instruments  for  the 
cultivation  of  the  earth  and  for  building,  and  the  troops  were  employed  on 
these  things."  Part  of  their  work  was  to  divert  the  waters  of  the  Eure,  so 
that  the  fountains  at  Versailles  should  have  a  perpetual  supply  :  but  this 
was  better  than  War.  —  Madame  de  Lafayette,  Memoires  de  la  Cour  de 
France  pour  les  Annees  1688  et  1689,  p.  1. 

2  Preface  to  Penn's  Frame  of  Government  of  the  Province  of  Penn- 
sylvania :  Hazard's  Register  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  L  p.  3.38.  See  also  Clark- 
son's  Memoirs  of  Penn,  Vol.  L  p.  238,  Philadelphia,  1814. 


118       THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

our  country.  "  The  great  God,"  said  the  ilhistrious 
Quaker,  in  words  of  sincerity  and  truth  addressed  to 
the  Sachems,  "  hath  written  his  law  in  our  hearts,  by 
which  we  are  taught  and  commanded  to  love  and  help 
and  do  good  to  one  another.  It  is  not  our  custom  to 
use  hostile  weapons  against  our  fellow-creatures,  for 
which  reason  we  come  unarmed.  Our  object  is  not  to 
do  injury,  but  to  do  good.  "We  are  now  met  on  the 
broad  pathway  of  good  faith  and  good  will,  so  that  no 
advantage  is  to  be  taken  on  either  side,  but  all  is  to  be 
openness,  brotherhood,  and  love,  while  all  are  to  be 
treated  as  of  the  same  flesh  and  blood."  ^  These  are 
words  of  True  Greatness.  "  Without  any  carnal  weapons," 
says  one  of  his  companions,  "  we  entered  the  land,  and 
inhabited  therein,  as  safe  as  if  there  had  been  thousands 
of  garrisons."  What  a  sublime  attestation !  "  This 
little  State,"  says  Oldmixon,  "  subsisted  in  the  midst 
of  six  Indian  nations  without  so  much  as  a  militia 
for  its  defence."  A  great  man  worthy  of  the  mantle  of 
Penn,  the  veneral^le  iohilanthro2:)ist,  Clarkson,  in  his  life 
of  the  founder,  pictures  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  as 
armed,  though  without  arms,  —  strong,  though  without 
strength,  —  safe,  without  the  ordinary  means  of  safety. 
According  to  him,  the  constalile's  staff  was  the  only  in- 
strument of  authority  for  the  greater  part  of  a  cen- 
tury ;  and  never,  during  tlie  administration  of  Penn,  or 
that  of  liis  proper  successors,  was  there  a  quarrel  or  a 
war.2 

Greater  than  the  divinity  tliat  doth  hedge  a  king  is 
the  divinity  that  encompasses  the  righteous  man  and 
the  righteous  people.     The  flowers  of  prosperity  smiled 

1  Clarkson's  Memoirs  of  Penn,  Vol.  I.  Ch.  18. 

2  Ibid.,  Vol.  II.  Ch.  2.3. 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  119 

in  the  footprints  of  William  Penn.  His  people  were 
immolested  and  happy,  while  (sad,  but  true  contrast ! ) 
other  colonies,  acting  upon  the  policy  of  the  world, 
building  forts,  and  showing  themselves  in  arms,  were 
harassed  by  perpetual  alarm,  and  pierced  by  the  sharp 
arrows  of  savage  war. 

This  pattern  of  a  Christian  commonwealth  never  fails 
to  arrest  the  admiration  of  all  who  contemplate  its 
beauties.  It  drew  an  epigram  of  eulogy  from  the  caus- 
tic pen  of  Voltaire,  and  has  been  fondly  painted  by  sym- 
pathetic historians.  Every  ingenuous  soul  in  our  day 
offers  willing  tribute  to  those  graces  of  justice  and  hu- 
manity, by  the  side  of  which  contemporary  life  on  this 
continent  seems  coarse  and  earthy. 

Not  to  barren  words  can  we  confine  ourselves  in  recog- 
nition of  virtue.  While  we  see  the  right,  and  approve  it 
too,  we  must  dare  to  pursue  it.  Now,  in  this  age  of  civ- 
ilization, surrounded  by  Cliristian  nations,  it  is  easy  to 
follow  the  successful  example  of  William  Penn  encom- 
passed by  savages.  Recognizing  those  two  transcend- 
ent ordinances  of  God,  the  Law  of  Rigid  and  the  Law 
of  Love,  —  twin  suns  which  illumine  the  moral  universe, 
—  why  not  aspire  to  the  true  glory,  and,  what  is  higher 
than  glory,  the  great  good,  of  taking  the  lead  in  the  dis- 
arming of  the  nations  ?  Let  us  abandon,  the  system  of 
Preparations  for  War  in  time  of  Peace,  as  irrational,  un- 
chTristian,  vainly  prodigal  of  expense,  and  having  a  direct 
tendency^  to  excite  the  evil  against  which  it  professes  to 
guard.  Let  the  enormous  means  thus  released  from 
iron  hands  be  devoted  to  labors  of  beneficence.  Our 
battlements  shall  be  schools,  hospitals,  colleges,  and 
churches;  our  arsenals  shall  be  libraries  ;  our  navy  shall 
be  peaceful  sliips,  on  errands  of  perpetual  commerce ; 


120       THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

our  army  shall  be  the  teachers  of  youth  and  the  minis- 
ters of  religion.  This  is  the  clieap  defence  of  nations. 
In  such  intreuchmeuts  what  Christian  soul  can  be 
touched  with  fear  ?  Angels  of  the  Lord  will  throw 
over  the  land  an  invisible,  but  impenetrable  panoply :  — 

"  Or  if  Virtue  feeble  were, 
Heaven  itself  would  stoop  to  her."  l 

At  the  thought  of  such  a  change,  the  imagination 
loses  itself  in  vain  effort  to  follow  the  midtitudinous 
streams  of  happiness  which  gush  forth  from  a  thou- 
sand hills.  Then  shall  the  naked  be  clothed  and  the 
hungry  fed ;  institutions  of  science  and  learning  shall 
crown  every  hdl-top ;  hospitals  for  the  sick,  and  other 
retreats  for  the  unfortunate  children  of  the  world,  ^  for 
all  who  suffer  in  any  way,  in  mind,  body,  or  estate, 
shall  nestle  in  every  valley;  while  the  spires  of  new 
churches  leap  exulting  to  the  skies.  The  whole  land 
shall  testify  to  the  change.  Art  shall  confess  it  in  the 
new  inspiration  of  the  canvas  and  the  marble.     Tlie 

1  These  are  the  concluding  words  of  that  most  exquisite  creation  of  early 
genius,  the  "  Comus."  Beyond  their  intrinsic  value,  they  have  authority  from 
the  circumstance  that  they  were  adopted  by  Milton  as  a  motto,  and  uiscribed 
by  him  in  an  album  at  Geneva,  while  on  his  foreign  travels.  This  album  is 
now  in  my  hands.  The  truth  thus  embalmed  by  the  grandest  poet  of  mod- 
em times  is  also  illustrated  in  familiar  words  by  the  most  graceful  poet  of 
antiquity :  — 

"  Integer  vitre  scelerisque  purus 
Non  eget  Mauris  jaculis,  neque  arcu, 
Nee  vencnatis  gravida  sagittis. 

Fusee,  pharetra." 

HoR.,  Carm.  I.  xxii.  1-4. 

Dryden  pictures  the  same  in  some  of  his  most  magical  lines:  — 

"  A  milk-white  hind,  immortal  and  unchanged, 
Fed  on  the  lawns,  and  in  the  forest  ranged; 
Without  unspotted,  innocent  within, 
Sht feared  no  danger,  for  she  knew  no  sin." 

The  Bind  and  the  Panther,  Part  I.  1-4. 


THE   TEUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  121 

harp  of  the  poet  shall  proclaim  it  in  a  loftier  rhyme. 
Above  all,  the  heart  of  man  shall  bear  witness  to  it,  in 
the  elevation  of  his  sentiments,  in  the  expansion  of  his 
affections,  in  his  devotion  to  the  highe.st  truth,  in  his 
appreciation  of  true  greatness.  The  eagle  of  our  coun- 
try, without  the  terror  of  his  beak,  and  dropping  the 
forceful  thunderbolt  from  liis  pounces,  shall  soar,  with 
the  olive  of  Peace,  into  untried  realms  of  ether,  nearer 
to  the  sun. 

I  pause  to  review^  the  field  over  which  we  have 
passed.  We  have  beheld  War,  sanctioned  by  Inter- 
national Law  as  a  mode  of  determining  justice  between 
nations,  elevated  into  an  established  custom,  defined  and 
guarded  by  a  complex  code  known  as  the  Laws  of  War ; 
we  have  detected  its  origin  in  an  appeal,  not  to  the 
moral  and  intellectual  part  of  man's  nature,  in  which 
alone  is  Justice,  but  to  that  low  part  which  he  has  in 
common  with  the  beast ;  we  have  contemplated  its  in- 
finite miseries  to  the  human  race ;  we  have  weighed  its 
sufficiency  as  a  mode  of  determining  justice  between 
nations,  and  found  that  it  is  a  rude  invocation  to  force, 
or  a  gigantic  game  of  chance,  in  which  God's  children 
are  profanely  treated  as  a  pack  of  cards,  while,  in  un- 
natural wickedness,  it  is  justly  likened  to  the  monstrous 
and  impious  custom  of  Trial  by  Battle,  which  disgraced 
the  Dark  Ages,  —  thus  showing,  that,  in  this  day  of 
boastful  civilization,  justice  between  nations  is  deter- 
mined by  the  same  rules  of  barbarous,  brutal  violence 
which  once  controlled  the  relations  between  individuals. 
We  have  next  considered  the  various  prejudices  by 
which  War  is  sustained,  founded  on  a  false  belief  in  its 
necessity,  —  the  practice  of  nations,  past  and  present,  — 


122       THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

the  infidelity  of  the  Christian  Church,  —  a  mistaken 
sentiment  of  honor,  —  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  duties 
of  patriotism,  —  and  finally,  that  monster  prejudice 
which  draws  its  vampire  life  from  the  vast  Prepara- 
tions for  War  in  time  of  Peace  ;  —  e'ipecially  dwelling, 
at  this  stage,  upon  the  thriftless,  irrational,  and  un- 
christian character  of  these  Preparations,  —  hailing  also 
the  auguries  of  their  overthrow,  —  and  catching  a  vision 
of  the  surpassing  good  that  will  be  achieved,  when  the 
boundless  means  thus  barbarously  employed  are  dedi- 
cated to  works  of  Peace,  opening  the  serene  path  to 
that  righteousness  which  exalteth  a  nation. 

And  now,  if  it  be  asked  why,  in  considering  the  true 
GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS,  I  dwell  thus  singly  and  exclu- 
sively on  War,  it  is  because  War  is  utterly  and  irrecon- 
cilably  inconsistent  with  True  Greatness.  Thus  far,  man 
has  worshipped  in  Military  Glory  a  phantom  idol,  com- 
pared with  which  the  colossal  images  of  ancient  Baby- 
lon or  modern  Hindostan  are  but  toys ;  and  we,  in  this 
favored  land  of  freedom,  in  this  blessed  day  of  light, 
are  among  the  idolaters.  The  Heaven-descended  in- 
junction. Know  thyself,  still  speaks  to  an  unheeding 
world  from  the  far-off  letters  of  gold  at  Delphi :  Know 
thyself ;  knoio  that  the  moral  is  the  noblest  iiart  of  man, 
transcending  far  that  which  is  the  seat  of  passion,  strife, 
and  War,  —  nobler  than  the  intellect  itself  And  tlie 
human  heart,  in  its  untutored,  spontaneous  homage 
to  the  virtues  of  Peace,  declares  the  same  truth,  — 
admonishing  the  military  idolater  that  it  is  not  the 
bloody  combats,  even  of  bravest  chiefs,  even  of  gods 
themselves,  as  they  echo  fr(jm  the  resounding  lines  of 
the  great  Poet  of  War,  which  receive  the  warmest  ad- 


THE   TRUE   GEANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  123 

miration,  but  those  two  scenes  where  are  painted  the 
gentle,  iinwarlike  affections  of  our  nature,  the  Parting 
of  Hector  from  Andromache,  and  the  Supplication  of 
Priam.  In  the  definitive  election  of  these  j)eaceful 
pictures,  the  sovd  of  man,  inspired  by  a  better  wisdom 
than  that  of  books,  and  drawn  unconsciously  by  the 
heavenly  attraction  of  what  is  truly  great,  acknowl- 
edges, in  touching  instances,  the  vanity  of  Military 
Glory.  The  Beatitudes  of  Christ,  which  shrink  from 
saying,  "  Blessed  are  the  War-makers,"  inculcate  the 
same  lesson.  Eeason  affirms  and  repeats  what  the 
heart  has  prompted  and  Christianity  proclaimed.  Sup- 
pose War  decided  by  Force,  where  is  the  glory  ?  Sup- 
pose it  decided  by  Cliancc,  where  is  the  glory  ?  Surely, 
in  other  ways  True  Greatness  lies.  Nor  is  it  difficult 
to  tell  where. 

True  Greatness  consists  in  imitating,  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible for  finite  man,  the  perfections  of  an  Infinite  Crea- 
tor,—  above  all,  in  cultivating  those  highest  perfections. 
Justice  and  Love  :  Justice,  which,  like  that  of  St.  Louis, 
does  not  swerve  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left ;  Love, 
which,  like  that  of  William  Penn,  regards  all  mankind 
as  of  kin.  "  God  is  angry,"  says  Plato,  "  when  any  one 
censures  a  man  like  Himself,  or  praises  a  man  of  an 
ojJjwsite  character:  and  the  godlike  man  is  the  good 
man."  ^  Again,  in  another  of  those  lovely  dialogues 
precious  with  immortal  truth  :  "  Nothing  resembles  God 
more  than  that  man  among  us  who  has  attained  to  the 
highest  degree  of  justice."  ^  The  True  Greatness  of 
Nations  is  in  those  qualities  wdiich  constitute  the  true 
greatness  of  the  individual.  It  is  not  in  extent  of  ter- 
ritory, or  vastness  of  population,  or  accumulation  of 

1  Minos,  §  12.  2  Theaetetus,  §  85. 


124       THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

wealth,  —  not  in  fortifications,  or  armies,  or  navies,  — 
not  in  the  sulphurous  blaze  of  battle,  —  not  in  Golgothas, 
though  covered  by  monuments  that  kiss  the  clouds; 
for  all  these  are  creatures  and  representatives  of  those 
qualities  in  our  nature  which  are  unlike  anything  in 
God's  nature.  Nor  is  it  in  triumphs  of  the  intellect 
alone,  —  in  literature,  learning,  science,  or  art.  The 
polished  Greeks,  our  masters  in  the  delights  of  art,  and 
the  commanding  Romans,  overawing  the  earth  wdth 
their  power,  were  little  more  than  splendid  savages. 
And  the  age  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  of  France,  span- 
ning so  long  a  period  of  ordinary  worldly  magnificence, 
thronged  by  marshals  bending  under  military  laurels, 
enlivened  by  the  unsurpassed  comedy  of  Moliere,  dig- 
nified by  the  tragic  genius  of  Corneille,  illumined  by 
the  splendors  of  Bossuet,  is  degraded  by  immoralities 
that  cannot  be  mentioned  without  a  blush,  by  a  heart- 
lessness  in  comparison  with  which  the  ice  of  Nova 
Zembla  is  warm,  and  by  a  succession  of  deeds  of  in- 
justice not  to  be  washed  out  by  the  tears  of  all  tlie  re- 
cording angels  of  Heaven. 

The  True  Greatness  of  a  Nation  cannot  be  in  tri- 
umphs of  the  intellect  alone.  Literature  and  art  may 
enlarge  the  sphere  of  its  influence ;  they  may  adorn 
it ;  but  in  their  nature  they  are  but  accessaries.  The 
True  Grandeur  of  Humanity  is  in  moral  elevation,  sus- 
tained, enlightened,  and  decorated  hy  the  intellect  of 
man.  The  surest  tokens  of  this  grandeur  in  a  na- 
tion are  that  Christian  Beneficence  which  diffuses  the 
greatest  happiness  among  all,  and  that  passionless, 
godlike  Justice  which  controls  the  relations  of  the 
nation  to  other  nations,  and  to  all  the  people  committed 
to  its  charge. 


THE  TEUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS.       125 

But  War  crushes  with  bloody  heel  all  1  jeueficence,  all 
happiness,  all  justice,  all  that  is  godlike  in  man,  —  sus- 
pending every  commandment  of  tlie  Decalogue,  setting 
at  naught  every  principle  of  the  Gospel,  and  silencing 
all  law,  human  as  well  as  divine,  except  only  that  im- 
pious code  of  its  own,  the  Laws  of  War.  If  in  its  dis- 
mal annals  there  is  any  cheerful  passage,  be  assured  it 
is  not  inspired  by  a  martial  Fury.  Let  it  not  be  for- 
gotten, let  it  be  ever  borne  in  mind,  as  you  ponder  this 
theme,  that  the  virtues  which  shed  their  charm  over  its 
horrors  are  all  borrowed  of  Peace,  —  that  they  are 
emanations  from  the  Spirit  of  Love,  which  is  so  strong 
in  the  heart  of  man  that  it  survives  the  rudest  assault. 
The  flowers  of  gentleness,  kindliness,  fidelity,  humani- 
ty, which  flourish  unregarded  in  the  rich  meadows  of 
Peace,  receive  unwonted  admiration  when  we  discern 
them  in  War,  —  like  violets  shedding  their  perfume  on 
the  perilous  edge  of  the  precipice,  beyond  the  smiling 
borders  of  civilization.  God  be  praised  for  all  the  ex- 
amples of  magnanimous  virtue  which  he  has  vouch- 
safed to  mankind  !  God  be  praised,  that  the  Eoman 
Emperor,  about  to  start  on  a  distant  expedition  of  War, 
encompassed  by  squadrons  of  cavalry,  and  by  golden 
eagles  swaying  in  the  wind,  stooped  from  his  saddle  to 
hear  the  prayer  of  a  humble  widow,  demanding  justice 
for  the  death  of  her  son  !  ^  God  be  praised,  that  Sid- 
ney, on  the  field  of  battle,  gave  with  dying  hand  the  cup 
of  cold  water  to  the  dying  soldier  !     That  single  act  of 

1  According  to  the  legends  of  the  Catholic  Church,  this  most  admired  in- 
stance of  justice  opened  to  Trajan,  although  a  heathen,  the  gates  of  salva- 
tion. Dante  found  the  scene  and  the  "  visible  speech  "  of  the  widow  and 
Emperor  storied  on  the  walls  of  Purgatory,  and  has  transmitted  them  in  a 
passage  which  commends  itself  hardly  less  than  any  in  the  divuie  poem.  — 
See  Purgatorio,  Canto  X. 


126       THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

self-forgetful  sacrifice  has  consecrated  the  deadly  field 
of  Zutphen,  far,  oh,  far  beyond  its  battle  ;  it  has  conse- 
crated thy  name,  gallant  Sidney,  beyond  any  feat  of  thy 
sword,  beyond  any  triumph  of  thy  pen  !  But  there  are 
lowly  suppliants  in  other  places  than  the  camp  ;  there 
are  hands  outstretched  elsewhere  than  on  fields  of  blood. 
Everywhere  is  opportunity  for  deeds  of  like  charity. 
Know  well  that  these  are  not  the  product  of  War. 
They  do  not  spring  from  enmity,  hatred,  and  strife,  but 
from  those  benign  sentiments  whose  natural  and  ripened 
fruit  of  joy  and  blessing  are  found  only  in  Peace.  If  at 
any  time  they  appear  in  the  soldier,  it  is  less  because 
than  notwithstanding  he  is  the  hireling  of  battle.  Let 
me  not  be  told,  then,  of  the  virtues  of  War.  Let  not 
the  acts  of  generosity  and  sacrifice  sometimes  blossom- 
ing on  its  fields  be  invoked  in  its  defence.  From  such 
a  giant  root  of  bitterness  no  true  good  can  spring.  The 
poisonous  tree,  in  Oriental  imagery,  though  watered 
by  nectar  and  covered  witli  roses,  produces  only  the 
fruit  of  death. 

Casting  our  eyes  over  the  history  of  nations,  with 
horror  we  discern  the  succession  of  murderous  slaugh- 
ters by  which  their  progress  is  marked.  Even  as  the 
hunter  follows  the  wild  beast  to  his  lair  by  the  drops 
of  blood  on  tlie  ground,  so  we  follow  Man,  faint,  weary, 
staggering  with  wounds,  tlirough  the  Black  Forest  of 
the  Past,  which  he  has  reddened  with  his  gore.  Oh,  let 
it  not  be  in  the  future  ages  as  in  tliose  we  now  contem- 
plate !  Let  the  grandeur  of  man  l)e  discerned,  not  in 
bloody  victory  or  ravenous  conquest,  but  in  the  bless- 
ings he  has  secured,  in  tlie  good  he  has  accomplished, 
in  the  triumplis  of  Justice  and  Beneficence,  in  the 
establishment  of  Perpetual  Peace ! 


THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS.  127 

As  ocean  washes  every  shore,  and  with  all-em- 
bracing arms  clasps  every  land,  while  on  its  heaving 
bosom  it  bears  the  products  of  various  climes,  so  Peace 
surrounds,  protects,  and  upholds  all  other  blessings. 
Without  it,  commerce  is  vain,  the  ardor  of  industry  is 
restrained,  justice  is  arrested,  happiness  is  blasted,  vir- 
tue sickens  and  dies. 

Peace,  too,  has  its  own  peculiar  victories,  in  compari- 
son with  which  Marathon  and  Bannockburn  and  Bunker 
HiU,  fields  sacred  in  the  history  of  human  freedom,  lose 
their  lustre.  Our  own  Washington  rises  to  a  truly 
heavenly  stature,  not  when  we  follow  him  through  the 
ice  of  the  Delaware  to  the  capture  of  Trenton,  not  when 
we  behold  him  victorious  over  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown, 
but  when  we  regard  him,  in  noble  deference  to  Justice, 
refusing  the  kingly  crown  which  a  faithless  soldiery 
proffered,  and  at  a  later  day  upholding  the  peaceful 
neutrality  of  the  country,  while  he  met  unmoved  the 
clamor  of  the  people  wickedly  crying  for  War.  What 
glory  of  battle  in  England's  annals  will  not  fade  by  the 
side  of  that  great  act  of  justice,  when  her  Parliament,  at 
a  cost  of  one  hundred  million  dollars,  gave  freedom  to 
eight  hundred  thousand  slaves  ?  And  when  the  day 
shaU  come  (may  these  eyes  be  gladdened  by  its  beams  ! ) 
that  shall  witness  an  act  of  larger  justice  still,  —  the 
peaceful  emancipation  of  three  million  fellow-men 
"  guilty  of  a  skin  not  colored  as  our  own,"  now,  in  this 
land  of  jubilant  freedom,  bound  in  gloomy  bondage,  — 
then  will  there  be  a  victory  by  the  side  of  which  that 
of  Bunker  Hill  will  be  as  the  farthing  candle  held 
up  to  the  sun.  That  victory  will  need  no  monument 
of  stone.  It  will  be  written  on  the  grateftil  hearts  of 
countless    multitudes   that    shall    proclaim   it   to   tlie 


128  THE   TRUE   GRANDEUR   OF   NATIONS. 

latest  generation.  It  will  he  one  of  tlie  famed  land- 
marks of  civilization,  —  or,  better  still,  a  link  in  the 
golden  chain  by  which  Humanity  connects  itself  with 
the  throne  of  God. 

As  man  is  higher  tlian  the  l)casts  of  the  field,  as  the 
angels  are  higher  than  man,  as  Christ  is  higher  than 
Mars,  as  he  tliat  ruleth  his  spirit  is  higher  tlian  lie  that 
taketh  a  city,  —  so  are  the  victories  of  Peace  higher  than 
the  victories  of  War. 

Far  be  from  us,  fellow-citizens,  on  this  festival,  the 
pride  of  national  victory,  and  tlie  illusion  of  national 
freedom,  in  which  we  are  too  prone  to  indulge  !  None 
of  you  make  rude  boast  of  individual  prosperity  or 
prowess.  And  here  I  end  as  I  began.  Our  country 
cannot  do  wliat  an  individual  cannot  do.  Therefore  it 
must  not  vaunt  or  be  puffed  up.  IJather  bend  to  un- 
performed duties.  Independence  is  not  all.  We  have 
but  half  done,  when  we  have  made  ourselves  free.  The 
scornful  taunt  wTung  from  l)itte'r  experience  of  the  great 
Revolution  in  France  must  not  be  levelled  at  us  :  "  They 
wish  to  be  free,  but  know  not  how  to  be  iustr  ^  Nor 
is  priceless  Freedom  an  end  in  itself,  but  rather  the 
means  of  Justice  and  Beneficence,  where  alone  is  en- 
during concord,  with  that  attendant  happiness  which 
is  the  final  end  and  aim  of  Nations,  as  of  every  human 
heart.  It  is  not  enough  to  be  free.  There  must  l)e 
Peace  which  cannot  fail,  and  other  nations  must  share 
the  great  possession.  For  tliis  good  must  we  labor,  bear- 
ing ever  in  mind  two  special  objects,  complements  of 
each  other :  first,  the  Arbitrament  of  War  must  end ;  and, 

1  "  Ih  veulent  ctre  libres,  et  tie  savent  pas  Ctre  justes,'"  was  the  fomous  ex- 
clamation of  Siey6s. 


THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS.       129 

secondly,  Disarmament  must  begin.  With  this  ending  ' 
and  thisHSeginniug  the  great  gates  of  the  Future  will  be 
opened,  and  the  guardian  virtues  will  assert  a  new 
empire.  Alas  !  until  this  is  done,  National  Honor  and 
National  Glory  will  yet  longer  flaunt  in  blood,  and  there 
can  be  no  True  Grandeur  of  Nations. 

To  this  great  work  let  me  summon  you.  That  Fu- 
ture, which  filled  the  lofty  vision  of  sages  and  bards  in 
Greece  and  Eome,  which  was  foretold  by  Prophets  and 
heralded  by  Evangelists,  when  man,  in  Happy  Isles,  or 
in  a  new  Paradise,  shall  confess  the  loveliness  of  Peace, 
may  you  secure,  if  not  for  yourselves,  at  least  for  your 
children !  Believe  that  you  can  do  it,  and  you  can  do  it. 
The  true  Golden  Age  is  before,  not  behind.  If  man  has 
once  been  driven  from  Paradise,  while  an  angel  with 
flaming  sword  forbade  his  return,  there  is  another  Para- 
dise, even  on  earth,  which  he  may  make  for  himself, 
by  the  cultivation  of  knowledge,  religion,  and  the  kindly 
virtues  of  life,  —  where  the  confusion  of  tongues  shall 
be  dissolved  in  the  union  of  hearts,  and  joyous  Nature, 
borrowing  prolific  charms  from  prevailing  Harmony, 
shall  spread  her  lap  with  unimagined  bounty,  and 
there  shall  be  perpetual  jocund  Spring,  and  sweet  strains 
borne  on  "  the  odoriferous  win^  of  gentle  gales,"  through 
valleys  of  delight  more  pleasant  than  the  Vale  of  Tempe, 
richer  than  the  Garden  of  the  Hesperides,  with  no  dragon 
to  guard  its  golden  fruit. 

Is  it  said  that  the  age  does  not  demand  this  work  ? 
The  robber  conqueror  of  the  Past,  from  fiery  sepulchre, 
demands  it ;  the  precious  blood  of  millions  unjustly 
shed  in  War,  crying  from  the  ground,  demands  it ;  the 
heart  of  the  good  man  demands  it ;  the  conscience, 
even   of  the   soldier,   whispers,    "  Peace ! "     There  are 


130  THE  TRUE   GRANDEUll   OF  NATIONS. 

considerations  springing  from  o\;r  situation  and  con- 
dition which  fervently  invite  ns  to  take  the  lead. 
Here  should  join  the  patriotic  ardor  of  the  land,  the 
ambition  of  tlie  statesman,  the  effort  of  the  scholar,  the 
pervasive  influence  of  the  press,  the  mild  persuasion  of 
the  sanctuary,  the  early  teaching  of  the  school.  Here, 
in  ampler  ether  and  diviner  air,  are  untried  fields 
for  exalted  triumph,  more  truly  worthy  the  American 
name  than  any  snatched  from  rivers  of  blood.  War 
is  known  as  the  Last  Reason  of  Kings.  Let  it  be  no 
reason  of  our  Eepublic.  Let  us  renounce  and  throw 
off  forever  the  yoke  of  a  tyranny  most  oppressive 
of  all  in  the  world's  annals.  As  those  standing  on 
the  mountain-top  first  discern  the  coming  beams  of 
morning,  so  may  we,  from  the  vantage-ground  of  lib- 
eral institutions,  first  recognize  the  ascending  sun  of 
a  new  era !  Lift  high  the  gates,  and  let  the  King 
of  Glory  in,  —  the  King  of  True  Glory,  —  of  Peace  ! 
I  catch  the  last  words  of  music  from  the  lips  of  in- 
nocence and  beauty ,1  — 

"  And  let  the  whole  earth  be  filled  with  His  Glory!  " 

It  is  a  beautiful  picture  in  Grecian  story,  that  there 
was  at  least  one  spot,  the  small  island  of  Delos,  dedi- 
cated to  the  gods,  and  kept  at  all  times  sacred  from 
War.  No  hostile  foot  ever  pressed  this  kindly  soil, 
and  citizens  of  all  countries  met  here,  in  common 
worship,  beneath  the  segis  of  inviolable  Peace.  So  let 
us  dedicate  our  beloved  country ;  and  may  the  blessed 
consecration  be  felt  in  all  its  parts,  everywliere  through- 
out its   ample   domain !     The   Temple  of  Honor  shall 

1  The  services  of  th2  choir  on  this  occasion  were  performed  by  the  youth- 
ful daughters  of  the  public  schools  of  Boston. 


THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS.       131 

be  enclosed-  by  the  Temple  of  Concord,  that  it  may 
never  more  be  entered  through  any  portal  of  War; 
the  horn  of  Abundance  shall  overflow  at  its  gates  ; 
the  angel  of  Eeligion  shall  be  the  guide  over  its  steps 
of  flashing  adamant ;  while  within  its  happy  courts, 
purged  of  Violence  and  Wrong,  Justice,  returned  to 
the  earth  from  long  exile  in  the  skies,  with  equal 
scales  for  nations  as  for  men,  shall  rear  her  serene 
and  majestic  front ;  and  by  her  side,  greatest  of  all, 
Charity,  sublime  in  meekness,  hoping  all  and  en- 
during all,  shall  divinely  temper  every  righteous 
decree,  and  with  words  of  infinite  cheer  inspire 
to  those  deeds  that  cannot  vanish  away.  And  the 
future  chief  of  the  Eepublic,  destined  to  uphold  the 
glories  of  a  new  era,  unspotted  by  human  blood, 
shall  be  first  in  Peace,  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  coun- 
trymen. 

While  seeking  these  fruitful  glories  for  ourselves,  let 
us  strive  for  their  extension  to  other  lands.  Let  the 
bugles  sound  the  Truce  of  God  to  the  whole  world  for- 
ever. Not  to  one  people,  but  to  every  people,  let  the 
glad  tidings  go.  The  selfish  boast  of  the  Spartan  women, 
that  they  never  saw  the  smoke  of  an  enemy's  camp, 
must  become  the  universal  chorus  of  mankind,  while 
the  iron  belt  of  War,  now  encompassing  the  globe,  is 
exchanged  for  the  golden  cestus  of  Peace,  clothing  all 
with  celestial  beauty.  History  dwells  with  fondness  on 
the  reverent  homage  bestowed  by  massacring  soldiers 
upon  the  spot  occupied  by  the  sepulchre  of  the  Lord. 
Vain  man !  why  confine  regard  to  a  few  feet  of  sa- 
cred mould  ?  The  whole  earth  is  the  sepulchre  of  the 
Lord ;  nor  can  any  righteous  man  profane  any  part 
thereof.     Confessing  this  truth,  let  us  now,  on  this  Sab- 


132       THE  TRUE  GRANDEUR  OF  NATIONS. 

bath  of  the  Nation,  lay  a  new  and  living  stone  in  the 
grand  Temple  of  Universal  Peace,  whose  dome  shall  be 
lofty  as  the  firmament  of  heaven,  broad  and  compre- 
hensive as  earth  itseK. 


WAR  SYSTEM  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH 
OF  NATIONS. 


Address  before  the  American  Peace  Society,  at  its  Anniversary 

Meeting  in  the  Park  Street  Church, 

Boston,  May  28,  1849. 


That  it  may  please  Thee  to  give  to  all  nations  unity,  peace,  and  con- 
cord. —  The  Litany. 

What  angel  shall  descend  to  reconcile 

The  Christian  states,  and  end  their  guilty  toil  ? 

Waller. 


133 


i 


Quas  harmonia  a  muf?icis  dicitur  in  cantu,  ea  est  in  civitate  concordia 

CiCiRO,  De  Republica,  Lib.  II.  Cap.  42. 

Una  dies  Fabios  ad  bellum  miserat  omnes, 
Ad  bellum  missos  perdidit  una  dies. 

Ovid,  Fasti,  Lib.  II.  235,  236. 

Cum  hac  persuasione  vivendumest:  Non  sum  uni  angulo  uatus;  patria 
mea  totus  hie  mundus  est.  —  Seneca,  Epislola  XXVIII. 

lUi  enim  exorsi  sunt  non  ab  observandis  telis  aut  armis  auttubis;  id 
enim  invisum  illis  est  propter  Deum  quem  in  conscientia  sua  gestant.  — 
Marcus  Aurelius,  Epislola  ad  Senatum :  S.  Justini  Apologia  I.  pro  Chris- 
tianis,  Cap.  71. 

War  is  one  of  the  greatest  plagues  that  can  afflict  humanity:  it  destroys 
religion,  it  destroys  states,  it  destroj's  families.  Any  scourge,  in  fact,  is 
preferable  to  it.     Famine  and  pestilence  become  as  nothing  in  comparison 

with  it Cannons  and  fire-arms  are  cruel  and  damnable  machines.     I 

believe  them  to  have  been  the  direct  suggestion  of  the  Devil If  Adam 

had  seen  in  a  vision  the  horrible  instruments  his  children  were  to  invent, 
he  would  have  died  of  grief.  —  Martin  Luther,  Table-  Talk,  tr.  Hazlitt,  pp. 
331  -  332. 

Mulei  Abdelummi,  assaulted  by  his  brother  and  wounded  in  the  church, 
1577,  would  not  stirre  till  sala,  or  prayer,  was  done.  —  Purchas,  Pilgrims, 
Part  n.  Book  IX.  Chap.  12,  §  6,  p.  1564. 

A  duel  may  still  be  granted  in  some  cases  by  the  law  of  England,  and 
only  there.  That  the  Church  allowed  it  anciently  appears  by  this:  In  their 
public  liturgies  there  were  prayers  appointed  for  the  duellists  to  say;  the 
judge  used  to  bid  them  go  to  such  a  church  and  pray,  etc.  But  whether  is 
this  lawful  ?  If  you  grant  any  war  lawful,  I  make  no  doubt  but  to  convince 
it.  —  Selden,  Table-  Talk :  Duel. 

I  look  upon  the  way  of  Treaties  as  a  retiring  from  fighting  like  beasts  to 
arguing  like  men,  whose  strength  should  be  more  in  their  understandings 
than  in  their  limbs.  —  Eikon  Basilike,  XVIII. 

Se  peut-il  rien  de  plus  plaisant  qu'un  homme  ait  droit  de  me  tuer  parce 
qu'il  demeure  au  dela  de  I'eau,  et  que  son  prince  a  querelle  avec  le  mien, 
quoique  je  n'en  aie  aucune  avec  lui? — Pascal,  Pensees,  Part.  I.  Art,  VI.  9. 

Pourquoi  me  tuez-vous?  Eh  quoi!  ne  demeurez-vous  pas  de  I'autre  c6t6 
de  I'eau?  Mon  ami,  si  vous  demeuriez  de  ce  c6t6,  je  serais  un  assassin; 
cela  serait  in  juste  de  vous  tuer  de  la  sorte:  mais  puisque  vous  demeurez 
de  I'autre  cot^,  je  suis  un  brave,  et  cela  est  juste.  —  Ibid.,  Part.  I.  Art.  IX.  3. 

De  tout  temps  les  hommes,  pour  quelque  morceau  de  terre  de  plus  ou  de 
moins,  scmt  convenus  entre  eux  de  se  d^pouiller,  se  bruler,  se  tuer,  s'^gorger 
les  uns  les  autres ;  et  pour  le  faire  plus  ing^nieusement  et  avec  plus  de  siiret^, 

135 


136  WAR   SYSTEM   OF  THE 

ilsont  iuvente  de  belles  regies  qu'on  appelle  Fart  militaire:  ils  ont  attach^  a 
la  pratique  de  ces  regies  la  gluire,  ou  la  plus  solide  r(?putation ;  et  ils  ont 
depuis  ench^ri  de  siecle  en  siecle  sur  la  maniere  de  se  detruire  r^ciproque- 
ment. —  La  Bruyeke,  Du  Suuverahi  ou  de  la  Republique. 

La  calamita  esser  innamorata  del  ferro.  —  Vico,  Scienza  Nuova,  Lib.  L, 
Degli  Ekmenti,  XXXIL 

Unlistening,  barbarous  Force,  to  whom  the  sword 
Is  reason,  honor,  law. 

Thomson,  Liberty,  Part  IV.  45,  46. 

Enfin,  tandis  que  les  deux  rois  faisaient  chanter  des  Te  Deum,  chacun 
dans  son  camp,  il  prit  le  parti  d'aller  raisonner  ailleurs  des  efl'ets  et  des 
causes.  II  passa  par-dessus  des  tas  de  morts  et  de  mourants,  et  gagna 
d'abord  un  village  voisin;  il  ctait  en  cendres  :  c'etait  un  village  Abare,  que 
les  Bulgares  avaient  brul6,  selon  les  lois  du  droit  public.  —  Voltaire,  Can- 
dide  ou  V  Optimiste,  Chap.  III. 

The  rage  and  violence  of  public  war,  what  is  it  but  a  suspension  of 
justice  among  the  warring  parties  ? —  Hujie,  Essays:  Inquiry  concerning  the 
Principles  of  Morals,  Section  III.,   Of  Justice,  Part  I. 

A  single  robber  or  a  few  associates  are  branded  with  their  genuine  name ; 
but  the  exploits  of  a  numerous  band  assume  the  character  of  lawful  and 
honorable  war.  —  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Chap.  50. 

The  glory  of  a  warrior  prince  can  only  be  written  in  letters  of  blood, 
and  he  can  only  be  immortalized  by  the  remembrance  of  the  devastation  of 
provinces  and  the  desolation  of  nations.  A  warrior  king  depends  for  his 
reputation  on  the  vulgar  crowd,  and  must  address  himself  to  prejudice  and 
ignorance  to  obtain  the  applause  of  a  day,  which  the  pen  of  the  philoso- 
pher, the  page  of  the  historian,  often  aimul,  even  before  death  comes  to  en- 
shroud the  mortal  facvdties  in  the  nothingness  from  which  they  came.  Con- 
sult, Sire,  the  laws  of  the  King  of  Kings,  and  acknowledge  that  the  God  of 
the  Universe  is  a  God  of  Peace.  —  Kight  Hon.  Hugh  Elliot,  British  Min- 
ister in  Sweden,  to  Guslavus  111.,  November  10,  1788:  Memoir,  by  the  Coun- 
tess of  Minto,  p.  324. 

C'est  un  usage  re^u  en  Europe,  qu'un  gentilhomme  vende,  h  une  querelle 
^trangtirc,  le  sang  qui  appartient  ii  sa  patrie;  qu'il  s'engage  a  assassiner,  en 
bataille  rang(5e,  qui  il  plaira  an  prince  qui  le  soudoie;  et  ce  metier  est  re- 
gard^ comme  honorable.  —  Condorcet,  Note  109  aux  Pensees  de  Pascal. 

C'etait  un  affreux  spectacle  que  cette'  d^route.  Les  blesses,  qui  ne  pou- 
vaient  se  trainer,  se  couchaient  sur  le  chemin;  on  les  foulait  aux  pieds;  les 
femmes  poussaient  des  cris,  les  enfans  jjleuraient,  les  officiers  frappaient 
les  fuyards.  An  milieu  de  tout  ce  dt^sordre,  ma  mere  avaitpass«3  sans  que 
)c  la  reconnusse.  Un  enfant  avait  voulu  TarrC'tcr  et  la  tuer,  parce  qu'elle 
fnyait.  —  Madame  de  la  KociieJaqlelein,  Mcmoires,  Chap.  XVII.  p.  301. 

Let  the  soldier  be  abroad,  if  he  will;  he  caq  do  nothing  in  this  age.  There 
is  another  personage,  a  personage  less  imposing  in  the  eyes  of  some,  per- 
haps insignificant.    The  schoolmaster  is  abroad,  and  I  trust  to  bim,  armed 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  137 

with  his  primer,  against  the  soldier  in  full  military  array.  —  Brougham, 
Speech  in  the  Bouse  of  Commons,  Januai-y  29,  1828. 

Was  it  possible  for  me  to  avoid  the  reflections  which  crowded  into  my 
mind,  ....  when  I  reflected  that  this  peaceful  and  guiltless  and  useful  tri- 
umph over  the  elements  and  over  Nature  herself  had  cost  a  million  only  of 
money,  whilst  fifteen  hundred  millions  had  been  squandered  on  cruelty  and 
crime,  in  naturalizing  barbarism  over  the  world,  shrouding  the  nations  in 
darkness,  making  bloodshed  tinge  the  earth  of  every  country  under  the  sun, 

—  in  one  horrid  and  comprehensive  word,  squandered  on  War,  the  greatest 
curse  of  the  human  race,  and  the  gi-eatest  crime,  because  it  involves  every 
other  crime  within  its  execrable  name  V  ....  I  look  backwards  with  shame, 
with  regret  unspeakable,  with  indignation  to  which  I  should  in  vain  attempt 
to  give  utterance,  ....  when  I  think,  that,  if  one  hundred,  and  but  one  hun- 
dred, of  those  fifteen  hundred  millions,  had  been  emploj'ed  in  promoting  the 
arts  of  peace  and  the  progress  of  civilization  and  of  wealth  and  prosperity 
amongst  us,  instead  of  that  other  employment  which  is  too  hateful  to  think 
of,  and  almost  nowadays  too  disgusting  to  speak  of  (and  I  hope  to  live  to 
see  the  day  when  such  things  will  be  incredible,  when,  looking  back,  we 
shall  find  it  impossible  to  believe  they  ever  happened),  instead  of  being 
burdened  with  eight  hundred  millions  of  debt,  borrowed  after  spending 
seven  hundred  millions,  borrowed  when  we  had  no  more  to  spend,  we  should 
have  seen  the  whole  country  covered  with  such  works  as  now  unite  Man- 
chester and  Liverpool,  and  should  have  enjoyed  peace  uninterrupted  dur- 
ing the  last  forty  years,  with  all  the  blessings  which  an  industrious  and  a 
virtuous  people  desei-ve,  and  which  peace  profusely  sheds  upon  their  lot. 

—  Ibid.,  Speech  at  Liverpool,  July  20, 1835. 

Who  can  read  these,  and  such  passages  as  these  [from  Plato],  without 
wishing  that  some  who  call  themselves  Christians,  some  Christian  Principal- 
ities and  Powers,  had  taken  a  lesson  from  the  Heathen  sage,  and,  if  their 
nature  forbade  them  to  abstain  from  massacres  and  injustice,  at  least  had 
not  committed  the  scandalous  impiety,  as  he  calls  it,  of  singing  in  places 
of  Christian  worship,  and  for  the  accomplishment  of  their  enormous  crimes, 
Te  Deums,  which  in  Plato's  Republic  would  have  been  punished  as  blas- 
phemy? Who,  indeed,  can  refrain  from  lamenting  another  pernicious  kind 
of  sacrilege,  an  anthropomorphism,  yet  more  frequent,  —  that  of  making 
Christian  temples  resound  with  prayers  for  victory  over  our  enemies,  and 
thanksgiving  for  their  defeat?  Assuredly  such  a  ritual  as  this  is  not  taken 
from  the  New  Testament.  —  Ibid.,  Discourse  of  Natural  Theology,  Note  VIII. 

War  is  on  its  last  legs ;  and  a  universal  peace  is  as  sure  as  is  the  preva- 
lence of  civilization  over  barbarism,  of  liberal  governments  over  feudal 
forms.  The  question  for  us  is  only,  Hoiv  soon  f —  Emerson,  War:  Esthetic 
Papers,  ed.  E.  P.  Peabody,  p.  42. 

A  day  will  come  when  the  only  battle-field  will  be  the  market  open  to 
commerce  and  the  mind  opening  to  new  ideas.  A  day  will  come  when  bul- 
lets and  bomb-shells  will  be  replaced  by  votes,  by  the  universal  suffrage  of 
nations,  by  the  venerable  arbitration  of  a  great  Sovereign  Senate,  which 


138   "^VAR  SYSTEM  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  OF  NATIONS. 

will  be  to  Europe  what  the  Parliament  is  to  England,  what  the  Diet  is  to 
Germany,  what  the  Legislative  Assembly  is  to  France.  A  day  will  come 
when  a  cannon  will  be  exhibited  in  public  museums,  just  as  an  instrument 
of  torture  is  now,  and  people  will  be  astonished  how  such  a  thing  could  have 
been.  A  day  will  come  when  those  two  immense  groups,  the  United  States 
of  America  and  the  United  States  of  Europe,  shall  be  seen  placed  in  pres- 
ence of  each  other,  extending  the  hand  of  fellowship  across  the  ocean.  — 
Victor  Hugo,  Inaugural  Address  at  the  Peace  Congress  of  Paris,  August 
22,  1849. 

Clearly,  beyond  question,  whatsoever  be  our  theories  about  human  na- 
ture and  its  capabilities  and  outcomes,  the  less  war  and  cutting  of  throats 
we  have  among  us,  it  will  be  better  for  us  all.  One  rejoices  much  to  see 
that  immeasurable  tendencies  of  this  time  are  already  pointing  towards  the 
results  you  aim  at,  —  that,  to  all  appearance,  as  men  no  longer  wear  swords 
in  the  streets,  so  neither  by-and-by  will  nations.  —  Carlyle,  Letter  to 
the  Peace  Congress  at  London,  July,  1851. 

The  longer  I  live,  the  more  I  am  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  a  powerful 
association  to  plead  the  cause  of  Universal  Peace  and  International  Arbitra- 
tion ;  and  I  feel  contident  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  war  will  be  as 
impossible  among  civilized  nations  as  duelling  is  among  civilized  men.  —  Sir 
David  Brewster,  Letter  to  the  Peace  Conference  at  Edinburgh,  October,  1853. 

Aujourd'hui  encore  on  b^nit  les  drapeaux  qui  conduisent  les  hommes  a 
de  mutuels  ^gorgements.  En  donnant  a  un  Dieu  de  paix  le  nom  de  Dieu 
des  Armees.  on  fait  de  I'Etre  infini  en  bont^  le  complice  de  ceux  qui  s'ab- 
reuvent  des  larmes  de  leurs  semblables.  Aujourd'hui  encore  on  chante 
d'impies  Te  Deum  pour  le  remercier  de  ces  victoires  obtenues  au  prix 
dV'pouvantables  massacres,  victoires  qu'il  faudrait  ou  expier  comme  des 
crimes  lorsqu'elles  ont  ^t^  remport(5es  dans  des  guerres  offensives  ou  de- 
plorer  comme  la  plus  triste  des  n^cessitt^'s  quand  elles  ont  ^te  obtenues  dans 
des  guerres  defensives.  —  Larroque,  De  la  Guerre  et  des  Armees  Perma- 
nentes.  Part.  III.  §  4. 

La  monarchic,  sous  les  formes  memes  les  plus  temperees,  tiendra  toujours 
a  avoir  a.  sa  d(?votion  des  annexes  permanentes.  Or  avec  les  armees  en  per- 
manence Tabolition  de  la  guerre  est  impossible.  Par  consequent  la  grande 
f(5d(5ration  des  peuples,  au  moins  de  tous  les  peuples  Europeens,  dans  le  but 
d'arriver  a  I'abolition  de  la  guerre  par  Tinstitution  d'un  droit  international 
et  d'un  tribunal  sup^rieur  charge  de  le  faire  observer,  ne  sera  realisable 
que  le  jour  oil  ces  peuples  seront  organises  sous  la  forme  r^publicaiue. 
Quand  luira  ce  jour? —  Ibid.,  Avant-propos,  p.  6. 

Sir  J.  Lubbock  quotes  the  case  of  a  tribe  in  Baffin's  Bay  who  "  could 
not  be  made  to  understand  what  was  meant  by  war,  nor  had  they  any  war- 
like weapons."  No  wonder,  poor  people!  They  had  been  driven  into  re- 
gions where  no  stronger  race  could  desire  to  follow  them.  —  Duke  of  Ar- 
gyll, Primeval  Man,  p.  177. 


ADDRESS. 


MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN,  —  We 
are  assembled  in  what  may  be  called  the  Holy 
Week  of  our  community,  —  not  occupied  by  pomps  of 
a  complex  ceremonial,  swelling  in  tides  of  music,  be- 
neath time-honored  arches,  but  set  apart,  with  the 
unadorned  simplicity  of  early  custom,  to  anniversary 
meetings  of  those  charitable  and  religious  associations 
from  whose  good  works  our  country  derives  such  true 
honor.  Each  association  is  distinct.  Gathered  within 
the  folds  of  each  are  its  own  members,  devoted  to 
its  chosen  objects :  and  yet  all  are  harmonious  to- 
gether; for  all  are  inspired  by  one  sentiment,  —  the 
welfare  of  the  united  Human  Family.  Each  has  its 
own  separate  orbit,  a  pathway  of  light ;  while  all  to- 
gether constitute  a  system  which  moves  in  a  still 
grander  orbit. 

Among  all  these  associations,  none  is  so  truly  compre- 
hensive as  ours.  The  prisoner  in  his  cell,  the 'slave  in 
his  chains,  the  sailor  on  ocean  wanderings,  the  Pagan 
on  far  off  continent  or  island,  and  the  ignorant  here 
at  home,  will  all  be  commended  by  eloquent  voices.  I 
need  not  say  that  you  should  listen  to  these  voices,  and 
answer  to  their  appeal.  But,  while  mindful  of  these  in- 
terests, justly  claiming  your  care,  it  is  my  present  and 


140  WAR   SYSTEM    OF  THE 

most  grateful  duty  to  commend  that  other  cause,  the 
great  cause  of  Peace,  which  in  its  wider  embrace  en- 
folds prisoner,  slave,  sailor,  the  ignorant,  all  mankind, 
—  which  to  each  of  these  charities  is  the  source  of 
strength  and  light,  I  may  say  of  life  itself,  as  the  sun 
in  the  heavens. 

Peace  is  the  grand  Christian  charity,  fountain  and 
parent  of  all  other  charities.  Let  Peace  be  removed, 
and  all  other  charities  sicken  and  die.  Let  Peace  exert 
her  gladsome  sway,  and  all  other  charities  quicken  into 
life.  Peace  is  the  distinctive  promise  and  possession  of 
Christianity,  —  so  much  so,  that,  where  Peace  is  not, 
Christianity  cannot  be.  It  is  also  the  promise  of  Heav- 
en, being  the  beautiful  consummation  of  that  rest  and 
felicity  which  the  saints  above  are  said  to  enjoy.  There 
is  nothing  elevated  which  is  not  exalted  by  Peace. 
There  is  nothing  valuable  which  does  not  gain  from 
Peace.  Of  Wisdom  herself  it  is  said,  that  all  her  ways 
are  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths  are  Peace.  And 
these  golden  words  are  refined  by  the  saying  of  the 
Christian  Father,  that  the  perfection  of  joy  is  Peace. 
Naturally  Peace  is  the  longing  and  aspiration  of  the 
noblest  souls,  whether  for  themselves  or  for  country. 
In  the  bitterness  of  exile,  away  from  the  Florence  im- 
mortalized by  his  divine  poem,  and  pacing  the  cloisters 
of  a  convent,  where  a  sympathetic  monk  inquired, 
"  Wliat  do  you  seek  ? "  Dante  answered,  in  accents 
distilled  from  the  heart,  "  Peace  V^  In  the  memora- 
ble English  struggles,  while  King  and  Parliament  were 
rending  tlie  land,  a  gallant  supporter  of  monarchy,  the 
chivalrous  Falkland,  touched  by  the  intoleral)le  woes  of 

1  Longfellow's  Poets  and  Poetry  of  Europe,  p.  513. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  141 

War,  cried,  in  words  which  consecrate  his  memory  more 
than  any  feat  of  arms,  "  Peace  !  peace  !  "  ^  Not  in  as- 
piration only,  but  in  benediction,  is  this  word  uttered. 
As  the  Apostle  went  forth  on  his  errand,  as  the  son  for- 
sook his  father's  roof,  the  choicest  blessing  was,  "  Peace 
he  with  you  !  "  When  the  Saviour  was  born,  angels  from 
heaven,  amidst  choiring  melodies,  let  fall  that  supreme 
benediction,  never  before  vouchsafed  to  the  children  of 
the  Human  Family,  "  Peace  on  earth,  and  good-will  to- 
wards men  f" 

To  maintain  this  charity,  to  promote  these  aspira- 
tions, to  welcome  these  benedictions,  is  the  object  of  our 
Society.  To  fill  men  in  private  with  all  those  senti- 
ments which  make  for  Peace,  to  lead  men  in  public  to 
the  recognition  of  those  paramount  principles  which 
are  the  safeguard  of  Peace,  above  all,  to  teach  the  True 
Grandeur  of  Peace,  and  to  unfold  the  folly  and  wicked- 
ness of  the  Institution  of  War  and  of  the  War  System, 
now  recognized  and  established  by  the  Commonwealth 
of  Nations  as  the  mode  of  determining  international 
controversies,  —  such  is  the  object  of  our  Society. 

There  are  persons  who  allow  themselves  sometimes 
to  speak  of  associations  like  ours,  if  not  with  disappro- 
bation, at  least  with  levity  and  distrust.  A  A^Titer  so 
humane  and  genial  as  Eobert  Southey  left  on  record 
a  gibe  at  the  "  Society  for  the  Abolition  of  War,"  say- 
ing that  it  had  "  not  obtained  sufficient  notice  even 
to  be  in  disrepute."  ^  It  is  not  uncommon  to  hear  our 
aims  characterized  as  visionary,  impracticable,  Utopian. 
Sometimes  it  is  hastily  said  that  they  are  contrary  to 

1  Clarendon,  History  of  the  Rebellion,  Book  VH.  Vol.  IV.  p.  255. 

2  Colloquies  on  the  Progress  and  Prospects  of  Society,  Vol.  I.  p.  224. 


142  WAR   SYSTEM    OF   THE 

the  nature  of  man,  that  they  require  for  success  a  com- 
plete reconstruction  of  human  character,  and  that  they 
necessarily  assume  in  man  qualities,  capacities,  and 
virtues  which  do  not  belong  to  his  nature.  This  mis- 
taken idea  was  once  strongly  expressed  in  the  taunt, 
that  "an  Anti-War  Society  is  as  little  practicable  as 
an  Anti-Thunder-and-Lightning  Society."  ^ 

Never  a  moment  when  this  beautiful  cause  was  not 
the  occasion  of  jest,  varying  with  the  character  of  the 
objector.  More  than  a  century  ago  there  was  some- 
thing of  this  kind,  which  arrested  the  attention  of  no 
less  a  person  than  Leibnitz,  and  afterwards  of  Fonte- 
nelle.  It  was  where  an  elegant  Dutch  trifler,  as  de- 
scribed by  Leibnitz,  following  the  custom  of  his  country, 
placed  as  a  sign  over  his  door  the  motto.  To  Perpetual 
Peace,  with  the  picture  of  a  cemetery,  —  meaning  to  sug- 
gest that  only  with  the  dead  could  this  desire  of  good 
men  be  fulfilled.  Not  with  the  living,  so  the  elegant 
Dutch  trifler  proclaimed  over  his  door.  A  different 
person,  also  of  Holland,  who  was  both  diplomatist  and 
historian,  the  scholarly  Aitzema,  caught  the  jest,  and 
illustrated  it  by  a  Latin  couplet :  — 

"  Qui  pacem  quaeris  libertatemque,  viator, 

Aut  nusquam  aut  isto  sub  tumulo  invenies  " ;  — 

which,  being  translated,  means,  "Traveller,  who  seekest 
Peace  and  Liberty,  either  nowhere  or  under  that  mound 
thou  wilt  find  them."  ^  Do  not  fail  to  observe  that  Lib- 
erty is  here  doomed  to  the  same  grave  as  Peace.  Alas, 
that  there  should  be  such  despair !  At  length  Liberty 
is  rising.     May  not  Peace  rise  also  ? 

1  Hon.  Jeremiah  Mason,  of  Boston,  to  Mr.  Sumner. 

2  Leibnitz,  Codex  Juris  Gentium  Diplomaticus,  Dissert.  I.  §  1 :  Opera 
(ed.  Dutens),  Tom.  IV.  Pars  3,  pp.  287,  288.  Fontenelle,  Eloge  de  Leibnitz: 
Qi)uvres,  Tom.  V.  p.  456. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  143 

Doubtless  objections,  to  say  nothing  of  jests,  striking  at 
the  heart  of  our  cause,  exert  a  certain  influence  over  the 
public  mind.  They  often  proceed  from  persons  of  sin- 
cerity and  goodness,  who  would  rejoice  to  see  the  truth 
as  we  see  it.  But,  plausible  as  they  appear  to  those 
who  have  not  properly  meditated  this  subject,  I  cannot 
but  regard  them  —  I  believe  that  all  who  candidly  lis- 
ten to  me  must  hereafter  regard  them  —  as  prejudices, 
without  foundation  in  sense  or  reason,  which  must  yield 
to  a  plain  and  careful  examination  of  the  precise  objects 
proposed. 

Let  me  not  content  myself,  in  response  to  these  crit- 
ics, with  the  easy  answer,  that,  if  our  aims  are  visionary, 
impracticable,  Utopian,  then  the  unfulfilled  promises  of 
the  Scriptures  are  vain,  —  then  the  Lord's  Prayer,  in 
which  we  ask  that  God's  kingdom  may  come  on  earth, 
is  a  mockery,  —  then  Christianity  is  no  better  than  the 
statutes  of  L'topia.  Let  me  not  content  myself  with  re- 
minding you  that  all  the  great  reforms  by  which  man- 
kind have  been  advanced  encountered  similar  objec- 
tions, —  that  the  abolition  of  the  punishment  of  death 
for  theft,  so  long  delayed,  was  first  suggested  in  the 
"  Utopia "  of  Sir  Thomas  ]\Iore,  —  that  the  efforts  to 
abolish  the  slave-trade  were  opposed,  almost  in  our  day, 
as  visionary,  —  in  short,  that  all  endeavors  for  human 
improvement,  for  knowledge,  for  freedom,  for  virtue,  all 
the  great  causes  which  dignify  human  history,  and  save 
it  from  being  a  mere  protracted  War  Bulletin,  a  com- 
mon sewer,  a  Cloaca  Maxima,  flooded  with  perpetual  un- 
cleanness,  have  been  pronounced  Utopian,  —  while,  in 
spite  of  distrust,  prejudice,  and  enmity,  all  these  causes 
gradually  found  acceptance,  as  they  gradually  came  to 
be  understood,  and  the  aspirations  of  one  age  became 
the  acquisitions  of  the  next. 


144  WAE   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

Satisfactory  to  some  as  this  answer  might  be,  I  can- 
not content  myself  with  leaving  our  cause  in  this  way. 
I  shall  meet  all  assaults,  and  show,  by  careful  exposi- 
tion, that  our  objects  are  in  no  respect  visionary,  —  that 
the  cause  of  Peace  does  not  depend  upon  any  recon- 
struction of  the  human  character,  or  upon  holding  in 
check  the  general  laws  of  man's  being,  —  but  that  it 
deals  with  man  as  he  is,  according  to  the  experience  of 
history,  —  and,  above  all,  that  our  immediate  and  par- 
ticular aim,  the  abolition  of  the  Institution  of  War,  and 
of  the  whole  War  System,  as  established  Arbiter  of  Right 
in  the  Commonwealth  of  Nations,  is  as  practicable  as  it 
would  be  beneficent. 

I  begin  by  putting  aside  questions,  often  pushed  for- 
ward, which  an  accurate  analysis  shows  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  the  true  issue.  Their  introduction  has 
perplexed  the  discussion,  by  transferring  to  the  great 
cause  of  International  Peace  doubts  which  do  not  be- 
long to  it. 

One  of  these  is  the  declared  right,  inherent  in  each 
individual,  to  take  the  life  of  an  assailant  in  order  to 
save  his  own  life,  —  compendiously  called  the  Right  of 
Self-Defencc,  usually  recognized  by  philosophers  and  pub- 
licists as  founded  in  Nature  and  the  instincts  of  men. 
The  exercise  of  this  right  is  carefully  restricted  to  cases 
where  life  itself  is  in  actual  jeopardy.  No  defence 
of  property,  no  vindication  of  what  is  called  personal 
honor,  justifies  this  extreme  resort.  Nor  does  this  right 
imply  the  right  of  attack ;  for,  instead  of  attacking 
one  another,  on  account  of  injuries  past  or  impending, 
men  need  only  resort  to  the  proper  tribunals  of  justice. 
There   are,  however,  many  most   respectable   persons, 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  I45 

particularly  of  the  denomination  of  Friends,  some  of 
whom  I  may  now  have  the  Iionor  of  addressing,  who 
believe  that  the  exercise  of  this  right,  even  thus  limited, 
is  in  direct  contravention  of  Christian  precepts.  Their 
views  find  faithful  utterance  in  the  writings  of  Jonathan 
Dymond,  of  which  at  least  this  may  be  said,  that  they 
strengthen  and  elevate,  even  if  they  do  not  always 
satisfy,  the  understanding.  "  We  shall  be  asked,"  says 
Dymond,  " '  Suppose  a  ruffian  breaks  into  your  house, 
and  rushes  into  your  room  with  his  arm  lifted  to  mur- 
der you  ;  do  you  not  believe  that  Christianity  allows 
you  to  kill  him  ? '  This  is  the  last  refuge  of  the  cause. 
Our  answer  to  it  is  explicit,  —  We  do  not  believe  it."  ^ 
While  thus  candidly  and  openly  avowing  an  extreme 
sentiment  of  non-resistance,  this  excellent  person  is  care- 
ful to  remind  the  reader  that  the  case  of  the  ruffian 
does  not  practically  illustrate  the  true  character  of 
War,  unless  it  appears  that  war  is  undertaken  simply 
for  the  preservation  of  life,  when  no  other  alternative 
remains  to  a  people  than  to  kill  or  be  killed.  Accord- 
ing to  this  view,  the  robber  on  land  who  places  his 
pistol  at  the  breast  of  the  traveller,  the  pirate  who 
threatens  life  on  the  high  seas,  and  the  riotous  dis- 
turber of  the  public  peace  who  puts  life  in  jeopardy 
at  home,  cannot  be  opposed  by  the  sacrifice  of  life. 
Of  course  all  who  subscribe  to  this  renunciation  of  self- 
defence  must  join  in  efforts  to  abolish  the  Arbitrament 
of  War.  Our  appeal  is  to  the  larger  number  who 
make  no  such  application  of  Christian  precepts,  wlio 
recognize  the  right  of  self-defence  as  belonging  to  each 
individual,  and  who  believe  in  the  necessity  at  times  of 

1  On  the  Applicability  of  the  Pacific  Principles  of  the  New  Testament  to 
the  Conduct  of  States,  p.  10. 


146  WAE   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

exercising  this  right,  whether  against  a  robber,  a  pirate, 
or  a  mob. 

Another  question,  closely  connected  with  that  of  self- 
defence,  is  the  asserted  Rigid  of  Revolt  or  Revolution. 
Shall  a  people  endure  political  oppression,  or  the  denial 
of  freedom,  without  resistance  ?  The  answer  to  this 
question  will  necessarily  affect  the  rights  of  three  mil- 
lion fellow-citizens  held  in  slavery  among  us.  If  such 
a  right  unqualifiedly  exists,  —  and  sympathy  with  our 
fathers,  and  with  the  struggles  for  freedom  now  agitating 
Europe,  must  make  us  hesitate  to  question  its  existence, 
—  then  these  three  millions  of  fellow-men,  into  whose 
souls  we  thrust  the  iron  of  the  deadliest  bondage  the 
world  has  yet  witnessed,  must  be  justified  in  resisting 
to  death  the  power  that  holds  them.  A  popular  writer 
on  ethics.  Dr.  Paley,  has  said :  "  It  may  be  as  much  a 
duty  at  one  time  to  resist  Government  as  it  is  at  an- 
other to  obey  it,  —  to  wit,  whenever  more  advantage  will 
in  our  opinion  accrue  to  the  community  from  resistance 
than  mischief  The  lawfulness  of  resistance,  or  the  law- 
fulness of  a  revolt,  does  not  depend  alone  upon  the 
grievance  which  is  sustained  or  feared,  but  also  upon 
the  probable  expense  and  event  of  the  contest."  ^  This 
view  distinctly  recognizes  the  right  of  resistance,  but 
limits  it  by  the  chance  of  success,  founding  it  on  no 
higher  ground  than  expediency.  A  right  thus  vaguely 
defined  and  bounded  must  be  invoked  with  reluctance 
and  distrust.  The  lover  of  Peace,  while  admitting,  that, 
unhappily,  in  the  present  state  of  the  world,  an  exi- 
gency for  its  exercise  may  arise,  must  coni'ess  the  in- 
lierent  barbarism  of  such  an  agency,  and  admire,  even 

1  Principles  of  Moral  and  Political  Philosophy,  Book  VI.  ch.  3. 


COiVIMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  147 

if  he  cannot  entirely  adopt,  tlie  sentiment  of  Daniel 
O'Connell :  "  Eemember  that  no  poKtical  change  is 
worth  a  single  crime,  or,  above  all,  a  single  drop  of 
human  blood." 

These  questions  I  put  aside,  not  as  unimportant,  not  as 
unworthy  of  careful  consideration,  but  as  unessential  to 
the  cause  which  I  now  present.  If  I  am  asked  —  as 
advocates  of  Peace  are  often  asked  —  whether  a  robber, 
a  pirate,  a  mob,  may  be  resisted  by  the  sacrifice  of  life,  I 
answer,  that  they  may  be  so  resisted,  —  mournfully,  ne- 
cessarily. If  I  am  asked  to  sympathize  with  the  efforts 
for  freedom  now  finding  vent  in  rebellion  and  revolution, 
I  cannot  hesitate  to  say,  that,  wherever  Freedom  strug- 
gles, wherever  Eight  is,  there  my  sympathies  must  be. 
And  I  believe  I  speak  not  only  for  myself,  but  for 
our  Society,  when  I  add,  that,  while  it  is  our  constant 
aim  to  diffuse  those  sentiments  which  promote  good-will 
in  all  the  relations  of  life,  which  exhibit  the  beauty 
of  Peace  everywhere,  in  national  affairs  as  well  as  inter- 
national, and  while  especially  recognizing  that  central 
truth,  the  Brotherhood  of  Man,  in  whose  noonday  light 
all  violence  among  men  is  dismal  and  abhorred  as  among 
brothers,  it  is  nevertheless  no  part  of  our  purpose  to 
impeach  the  right  to  take  life  in  self-defence  or  when 
the  public  necessity  requires,  nor  to  question  the  justi- 
fiableness  of  resistance  to  outrage  and  oppression.  On 
these  points  there  are  diversities  of  opinion  among  the 
friends  of  Peace,  which  this  Society,  confining  itself  to 
efforts  for  the  overthrow  of  War,  is  not  constrained  to 
determine. 

Waiving,  then,  these  matters,  with  their  perplexities 
and  difficulties,  which  do  not  in  any  respect  belong  to 


148  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

the  cause,  I  come  now  to  the  precise  object  we  hope 
to  accomplish,  —  Tlic  Abolition  of  the  Institution  of 
War,  and  of  tJie  ichole  War  System,  as  an  established 
Arbiter  of  Justice  in  the  Commomvealth  of  Nations.  In 
the  accurate  statement  of  our  aims  you  will  at  once 
perceive  the  strength  of  our  position.  Much  is  always 
gained  by  a  clear  understanding  of  the  question  in 
issue;  and  the  cause  of  Peace  unquestionably  suffers 
often  because  it  is  misrepresented  or  not  fully  compre- 
hended. In  the  hope  of  removing  this  difficulty,  I  shall 
first  unfold  the  true  character  of  War  and  the  War  Sys- 
tem, involving  the  question  of  Preparations  for  War,  and 
the  question  of  a  Militia.  The  way  wiU  then  be  open,  in 
the  second  branch  of  this  Address,  for  a  consideration 
of  the  means  by  which  this  system  can  be  overthrown. 
Here  I  shall  exhibit  the  examples  of  nations,  and  the 
efforts  of  individuals,  constituting  the  Peace  Movement, 
with  the  auguries  of  its  triumph,  briefly  touching,  at  the 
close,  on  our  duties  to  this  great  cause,  and  the  vanity 
of  Military  Glory.  In  all  that  I  say  I  cannot  forget 
that  I  am  addressing  a  Christian  association,  for  a 
Christian  charity,  in  a  Christian  churcli. 

I. 

AxD,  first,  of  War  and  the  War  System  in  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Nations.  By  the  Commonwealth  of  Na- 
tions I  understand  tlie  Fraternity  of  Christian  Nations 
recognizing  a  Common  Law  in  their  relations  with 
each  other,  usually  called  the  Law  of  Nations.  This 
law,  being  established  by  the  consent  of  nations,  is  not 
necessarily  the  law  of  all  nations,  but  only  of  such  as 
recognize  it.     The  Europeans  and  the  Orientals  often 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  149 

differ  with  regard  to  its  provisions ;  nor  would  it  be 
proper  to  say,  that,  at  this  time,  the  Ottomans,  or  the 
Mahometans  in  general,  or  the  Chinese,  have  become 
parties  to  it.^  The  prevailing  elements  of  tliis  law  are 
the  Law  of  Nature,  tlie  truths  of  Christianity,  the  usages 
of  nations,  tlie  opinions  of  publicists,  and  the  written 
texts  or  enactments  found  in  diplomatic  acts  or  treaties. 
In  origin  and  growth  it  is  not  unlike  the  various  sys- 
tems of  municipal  jurisprudence,  all  of  which  are  refer- 
red to  kindred  sources. 

It  is  often  said,  in  excuse  for  the  allowance  of  War, 
that  nations  are  independent,  and  acknowledge  no  com- 
mon superior.  True,  indeed,  they  are  politically  inde- 
pendent, and  acknowledge  no  common  political  sov- 
ereign, witli  power  to  enforce  tlie  law.  But  they  do 
acknowledge  a  common  superior,  of  unquestioned  influ- 
ence and  authority,  whose  rules  they  are  bound  to  obey. 
This  common  superior,  acknowledged  by  all,  is  none 
other  than  the  Law  of  Nations,  with  the  Law  of  Nature 
as  a  controlling  element.  It  were  superfluous  to  dwell 
at  length  upon  opinions  of  publicists  and  jurists  de- 
claring this  supremacy.  "The  Law  of  Nature,"  says 
Vattel,  a  classic  in  this  department,  "  is  not  less  oUiga- 
tory  with  respect  to  states,  or  to  men  united  in  political 
society,  than  to  individuals."  ^  An  eminent  English  au- 
thority. Lord  StoweU,  so  famous  as  Sir  William  Scott, 
says,  "  The  Conventional  Lata  of  Mankind,  which  is 
evidenced  in  their  practice,  alloivs  some  and  prohibits 
other  modes  of  destruction."  ^  A  recent  German  jurist 
says,  "  A  nation  associating  itself  with  the  general  so- 

1  Since  the  delivery  of  this  Address,  Turkey  and  China  have  accepted 
our  Law  of  Nations. 

2  Law  of  Nations,  Preface. 

8  Robinson's,  Chr.,  Admiralty  Reports,  Vol.  L  p.  140. 


150  WAR  SYSTEM   OF  THE 

ciety  of  nations  thereby  recognizes  a  law  common  to  all 
nations,  by  wliicli  its  international  relations  are  to  be 
regulated ."  ^  Lastly,  a  popular  English  moralist,  whom 
I  have  already  quoted,  and  to  whom  I  refer  because  his 
name  is  so  familiar.  Dr.  Paley,  says,  that  the  principal 
part  of  what  is  called  the  Law  of  Nations  derives  its 
obligatory  character  "  simply  from  the  fact  of  its  being 
established,  and  the  general  duty  of  conforming  to  estab- 
lished rules  upon  questions  and  between  parties  wliere 
nothing  but  positive  regulations  can  prevent  disputes, 
and  where  disputes  are  followed  by  such  destructive 
consequences."  ^ 

The  Law  .of  Nations  is,  then,  the  Supreme  Law  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Nations,  governing  their  relations 
with  each  other,  determining  their  reciprocal  rights,  and 
sanctioning  all  remedies  for  the  violation  of  these  rights. 
To  the  Commonw^ealth  of  Nations  this  law  is  what  the 
Constitution  and  Municipal  Law  of  Massachusetts  are 
to  the  associate  towns  and  counties  composing  the  State, 
or  what,  by  apter  illustration,  the  National  Constitution 
of  our  Union  is  to  the  thirty  several  States  which  now 
recognize  it  as  the  sujoreme  law. 

But  the  Law  of  Nations,  —  and  here  is  a  point  of  in- 
finite importance  to  the  clear  understanding  of  the  sub- 
ject, —  while  anticipating  and  providing  for  controversies 
between  nations,  recognizes  and  establishes  AVar  as  final 
Arbiter.  It  distinctly  says  to  nations,  "  If  you  cannot 
agree  together,  then  stake  your  cause  upon  Trial  by 
Battle."  The  mode  of  trial  thus  recognized  and  estab- 
lished has  its  own  procedure,  with  rules  and  regulations, 

1  Heffter,  Das  Europaische  Volkerreclit  der  Gegenwurt,  §  2. 

*  Principles  of  Moral  and  Political  Philosophy,  Book  VI.  ch.  12. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  151 

under  the  name  of  Laws  of  War,  constituting  a  branch 
of  International  Law.  "  The  Laws  of  War,"  says  Dr. 
Paley,  "  are  part  of  the  Law  of  Nations,  and  founded,  as 
to  their  authority,  upon  the  same  principle  with  the  rest 
of  that  code,  namely,  upon  the  fact  of  their  being  estab- 
lished, no  matter  when  or  by  whom."  ^  Nobody  doubts 
that  the  Laws  of  War  are  established  by  nations. 

It  is  not  uncommon  to  speak  of  the  j^'^ct'^^'i-c^^  of  War, 
or  the  custom  of  War,  —  a  term  adopted  by  that  devoted 
friend  of  Peace,  the  late  Noah  Worcester.  Its  apolo- 
gists and  expounders  have  called  it  "  a  judicial  trial," 

—  " one  of  the  highest  trials  of  right,"  —  "a  process 
of  justice,"  —  "  an  appeal  for  justice,"  —  "a  mode  of  ob- 
taining rights,"  —  "a  prosecution  of  rights  by  force," 

—  "a  mode  of  condign  punishment."  I  prefer  to  char- 
acterize it  as  an  Institution,  established  by  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Nations  as  Arbiter  of  Justice.  As  Sla- 
very is  an  Institution,  growing  out  of  local  custom, 
sanctioned,  defined,  and  established  by  Municipal  Law, 
so  War  is  an  Institution,  growing  out  of  general  custom, 
sanctioned,  defined,  and  established  by  the  Law  of  Na- 
tions. 

Only  when  we  contemplate  War  in  this  light  can 
we  fully  perceive  its  combined  folly  and  wickedness. 
Let  me  bring  this  home  to  your  minds.  Boston  and 
Cambridge  are  adjoining  towns,  separated  by  the  Eiver 
Charles.  In  the  event  of  controversy  between  these 
different  jurisdictions,  the  Municipal  Law  establishes 
a  judicial  tribunal,  and  not  War,  as  arbiter.  Ascend- 
ing higher,  in  the  event  of  controversy  between  two 
different  counties,  as  between  Essex  and  Middlesex, 
the  same  Municipal  Law  estabUshes  a  judicial  tribunal, 

1  Principles  of  Moral  and  Political  Philosophy,  Book  VI.  ch.  12. 


152  "^^'^K  SYSTEM   OF  THE 

and  not  War,  as  arbiter.  Ascending  yet  higher,  in  tlie 
event  of  controversy  between  two  difl'erent  States  of 
our  Union,  the  Constitution  establishes  a  judicial  tri- 
bunal, the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and 
not  War,  as  arbiter.  But  now  mark :  at  the  next 
stage  there  is  a  change  of  arbiter.  In  the  event  of 
controversy  between  two  different  States  of  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Nations,  the  supreme  law  establishes,  not 
a  judicial  tribunal,  but  War,  as  arbiter.  War  is  the  in- 
stitution established  for  the  determination  of  justice  be- 
tween nations. 

Provisions  of  the  Municipal  Law  of  Massachusetts, 
and  of  the  National  Constitution,  are  not  vain  words. 
To  all  familiar  with  our  courts  it  is  well  known  that 
suits  between  towns,  and  likewise  between  counties,  are 
often  entertained  and  satisfactorily  adjudicated.  The 
records  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
show  also  that  States  of  the  Union  habitually  refer 
important  controversies  to  this  tribunal.  Before  this 
high  court  is  now  pending  an  action  of  the  State  of 
IVIissouri  against  the  State  of  Iowa,  founded  on  a  ques- 
tion of  boundary,  Mdiere  the  former  claims  a  section  of 
territory  —  larger  than  many  German  principalities  — 
extending  along  the  whole  northern  border  of  jMissouri, 
with  several  miles  of  breadth,  and  comprising  more  than 
two  thousand  s(piare  miles.  Within  a  short  period  this 
same  tribunal  has  decided  a  similar  question  between 
our  own  State  of  Massachusetts  and  our  neighbor,  Ithode 
Island,  —  the  latter  pertinaciously  claiming  a  section  of 
territory,  aljout  three  miles  broad,  on  a  portion  of  our 
southern  frontier. 

Suppose  that  in  these  different  cases  between  towns 
counties,  states,  War  had  been  established  by  the   su- 


COMMO^'WEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  153 

preme  law  as  arbiter;  imagine  the  disastrous  conse- 
quences ;  picture  the  imperfect  justice  which  must  have 
been  the  end  and  fruit  of  such  a  contest;  and  while 
rejoicing  that  in  these  cases  we  are  happily  relieved 
from  an  alternative  so  wretched  and  deplorable,  reflect 
that  on  a  larger  theatre,  where  grander  interests  are 
staked,  in  the  relations  between  nations,  under  the  sol- 
emn sanction  of  the  Law  of  Nations,  AVar  is  established 
as  Arbiter  of  Justice.  Eeflect  also  that  a  complex  and 
subtile  code,  known  as  Laws  of  AVar,  is  established  to 
regulate  the  resort  to  this  arbiter. 

Eecognizing  the  irrational  and  unchristian  character 
of  AVar  as  established  arbiter  between  towns,  counties, 
and  states,  we  learn  to  condemn  it  as  established  ar- 
biter between  nations.  If  wi'ong  in  one  case,  it  must  be 
wrong  in  the  other.  But  there  is  another  parallel  sup- 
plied by  history,  from  which  we  may  form  a  yet  clearer 
idea :  I  refer  to  the  system  of  Private  Wars,  or,  more  prop- 
erly, Petty  Wars,  which  darkened  e^•en  the  Dark  Ages. 
This  must  not  be  confounded  witli  the  Trial  hy  Battle, 
although  the  two  were  alike  in  recognizing  the  sword  as 
Arbiter  of  Justice.  The  right  to  imge  war  {le  droit  de 
guerroyer)  was  accorded  by  the  early  Municipal  Law 
of  European  States,  particularly  of  the  Continent,  to  all 
independent  chiefs,  however  petty,  but  not  to  vassals  ; 
precisely  as  the  right  to  wage  war  is  now  accorded  by 
International  Law  to  all  independent  states  and  princi- 
paHties,  however  petty,  but  not  to  subjects.  It  was 
mentioned  often  among  the  "  liberties  "  to  which  inde- 
pendent chiefs  were  entitled ;  as  it  is  still  recognized 
by  International  Law  among  the  "  liberties  "  of  inde- 
l  endent  nations.     In  proportion  as  any  sovereignty  was 


154  WAR   SYSTEM    OF   THE 

absorbed  in  some  larger  lordship,  this  offensive  right 
or  "  liberty  "  gradually  disappeared.  In  France  it  pre- 
vailed extensively,  till  at  last  King  John,  by  an  ordi- 
nance dated  1361,  expressly  forbade  Petty  Wars  through- 
out his  kingdom,  saying,  in  excellent  words,  "  We  by 
these  presents  ordain  that  all  challenges  and  wars,  and 
all  acts  of  violence  against  all  persons,  in  aU  parts  what- 
soever of  our  kingdom,  shall  henceforth  cease ;  and  all 
assemblies,  musters,  and  raids  of  men-at-arms  or  archers ; 
and  also  all  pillages,  seizures  of  goods  and  persons  ille- 
gally, vengeances  and  counter-vengeances,  surprisals  and 

ambuscades All  which  things  we  will  to  be  kept 

and  observed  everywhere  without  infringement,  on  pain 
of  incurring  our  indignation,  and  of  being  reputed  and 
held  disobedient  and  rebellious  towards  us  and  the 
crown,  and  at  our  mercy  in  body  and  goods."  ^  It  was 
reserved  for  that  indefatigable  king,  Louis  the  Eleventh, 
while  Dauphin,  as  late  as  1451,  to  make  another  effort 
in  the  same  direction,  by  expressly  abrogating  one  of 
the  "  liberties  "  of  Dauphine,  being  none  other  than  the 
right  of  war,  immemorially  secured  to  the  inhabitants 
of  this  province.^  From  these  royal  ordinances  the 
Commonwealth  of  Nations  might  borrow  appropriate 
words,  in  abrogating  forever  the  Public  Wars,  or,  more 
properly,  the  Grand  Wars,  with  their  vengeances  and 
counter-vengeances,  which  are  yet  sanctioned  by  Inter- 
national Law  among  the  "  liberties "  of  Christian  na- 
tions. 

At  a  later  day,  in  Germany,  effective  measures  were 
taken  against  the  same  prevailing  evil.     Contests  there 

1  Cauchy,  Du  Duel  consid^rd  dans  ses  Origines,  Liv.  I.  Seconde  Epoque, 
Ch.  V.  Tom.  I.  pp.  91,  92. 

2  Du   Cunge,    Dissertations  sur  THistoire  de   St.   Louis,   Diss.   XXVII. 
(XXIX.):  Des  Guerres  Privees. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  155 

were  not  confined  to  feudal  lords.  Associations  of  trades- 
men, and  even  of  domestics,  sent  defiance  to  each  other, 
and  even  to  whole  cities,  on  pretences  trivial  as  those 
sometimes  the  occasion  of  the  Grand  Wars  between  na- 
tions. There  are  still  extant  Declarations  of  War  by 
a  Lord  of  Frauenstein  against  the  free  city  of  Frank- 
fort, because  a  young  lady  of  the  city  refused  to  dance 
with  the  uncle  of  the  belligerent,  —  by  the  baker  and 
other  domestics  of  the  Margrave  of  Baden  against  Ess- 
lingen,  Eeutlingen,  and  other  imperial  cities,  —  by  the 
baker  of  the  Count  Palatine  Louis  against  the  cities 
of  Augsburg,  Ulm,  and  Eottweil,  —  by  the  shoeblacks 
of  the  University  of  Leipsic  against  the  provost  and 
other  members,  —  and,  in  1477,  by  the  cook  of  Ep- 
penstein,  with  his  scullions,  dairy-maids,  and  disli-wash- 
ers,  against  Otho,  Count  of  Solms.  Finally,  in  1495,  at 
the  Diet  of  Worms,  so  memorable  in  German  annals, 
the  Emperor  Maximilian  sanctioned  an  ordinance  which 
proclaimed  a  permanent  Peace  throughout  Germany, 
abolished  the  right  or  "  liberty "  of  Private  War,  and 
instituted  a  Supreme  Tribunal,  under  the  ancient  name 
of  Imperial  Chamber,  to  which  recourse  might  be  had, 
even  by  nobles,  princes,  and  states,  for  the  determina- 
tion of  disputes  without  appeal  to  the  sword.  ^ 

Trial  hy  Battle,  or  "judicial  combat,"  furnishes  the 
most  vivid  picture  of  the  Arbitrament  of  War,  beyond 
even  what  is  found  in  the  system  of  Petty  Wars.  It 
was  at  one  period,  particularly  in  France,  the  universal 
umpire  between  private  individuals.  All  causes,  crimi- 
nal and  civil,  with  all  the  questions  incident  thereto, 
were  referred  to  this  senseless  trial.      Not  bodily  in- 

1  Coxe,  History  of  the  House  of  Austria,  Ch.  XIX.  and  XXI. 


156  WAR  SYSTEM   OF  THE 

firmity  or  old  age  could  exempt  a  litigant  from  the 
hazard  of  the  Battle,  even  to  determine  diflerences  of  the 
most  trivial  import.  At  last  substitutes  were  allowed, 
and,  as  in  War,  bravoes  or  champions  were  hired  for 
wages  to  enter  the  lists.  The  proceedings  were  con- 
ducted gravely  according  to  prescribed  forms,  which 
w^ere  digested  into  a  system  of  peculiar  subtilty  and 
minuteness,  —  as  War  in  our  day  is  according  to  an 
established  code,  the  Laws  of  War.  Thus  do  violence, 
lawlessness,  and  absurdity  shelter  themselves  beneath 
the  Rule  of  Law !  Religion  also  lent  her  sanctions. 
With  presence  and  prayer  the  priest  cheered  the  insen- 
sate combatant,  and  appealed  for  aid  to  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Prince  of  Peace. 

The  Church,  to  its  honor,  early  perceived  the  wick- 
edness of  this  system.  By  voices  of  pious  bishops,  by 
ordinances  of  solemn  councils,  by  anathemas  of  i)opes, 
it  condemned  whosoever  should  slay  another  in  a  bat- 
tle so  impious  and  inimical  to  Christian  peace,  as  "a 
most  wicked  homicide  and  bloody  robber "  ^ ;  while  it 
treated  the  unhappy  victim  as  a  volunteer,  guilty  of 
his  own  death,  and  handed  his  remains  to  unhonored 
burial  without  psalm  or  prayer.  With  sacerdotal  sup- 
plication it  vainly  souglit  the  withdrawal  of  all  counte- 
nance from  this  great  evil,  and  the  support  of  the  civil 
power  in  ecclesiastical  censures.  To  these  just  efforts 
let  praise  and  gratitude  be  offered  !  But,  alas  !  authen- 
tic incidents,  and  the  forms  still  on  record  in  ancient 
missals,  attest   the  unhappy  sanction  which  Trial   by 

1  "  Statuimus,  juxta  nntiquum  ccclesiasticEE  ohservationis  morem,  ut  qui- 
cumque  tam  impia  et  Cliristianse  paci  inimica  pugna  alternm  occiderit  seu 
vulneribus  (Ie>)ilem  reddUlerit,  velut  homicida  neijuissimus  et  latro  cruentus,  ab 
Ecclcsise  et  omnium  fidelium  coRtu  rcddatur  scparatus,"  etc.  —  Canon  XII. 
Concil.  Valent.,  — quoted  by  Caucliy,  Du  Duel,  Liv.  I.  Premiere  Epoque, 
Ch.  III.,  Tom.  I.  p.  43,  note. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  157 

Battle  succeeded  in  obtaining  even  from  the  Church, 
—  as  in  our  day  the  English  Liturgy,  and  the  con- 
duct of  the  Christian  clergy  in  all  countries,  attest  the 
unhappy  sanction  which  the  Institution  of  War  yet  en- 
joys. Admonitions  of  the  Church  and  labors  of  good 
men  slowly  prevailed.  Proofs  by  witnesses  and  by  titles 
were  gradually  adopted,  though  opposed  by  the  selfish- 
ness of  camp-followers,  subaltern  officers,  and  even  of 
lords,  greedy  for  the  fees  or  wages  of  combat.  In  Eng- 
land Trial  by  Battle  was  attacked  by  Henry  the  Second, 
striving  to  substitute  Trial  by  Jury.  In  France  it  was 
expressly  forbidden  by  that  illustrious  monarch,  St.  Louis, 
in  an  immortal  ordinance.  At  last,  this  system,  so  waste- 
ful of  life,  so  barbarous  in  character,  so  vain  and  ineffi- 
cient as  Arbiter  of  Justice,  yielded  to  judicial  tribunals. 

The  Trial  by  Battle  is  not  Eomau  in  origin.  It  may 
be  traced  to  tlie  forests  of  Germany,  where  the  rule  pre- 
vailed of  referring  to  the  sword  what  at  Eome  was  re- 
ferred to  the  praetor ;  so  that  a  judicial  tribunal,  when 
urged  upon  these  barbarians,  was  regarded  as  an  inno- 
vation.i  The  very  words  of  surprise  at  the  German  cus- 
tom are  yet  applicable  to  the  Arbitrament  of  War. 

The  absurdity  of  Trial  by  Battle  may  be  learned  from 
the  instances  where  it  was  invoked.  Though  originally 
permitted  to  determine  questions  of  personal  character, 
it  was  extended  so  as  to  embrace  criminal  cases,  and 
even  questions  of  property.  In  961  the  title  to  a 
church  was  submitted  to  this  ordeal.-  Some  time  later 
a  grave  point  of  law  was  submitted.  The  question  was, 
"Whether  the   sons  of  a   son   ought   to   be   reckoned 

^  "  Nunc  agentes  gratias,  qnod  ea  Romana  jiistitia  finiret,  feritasqne  sua 
novitate  incognitse  disciplinse  mitesceret,  et  solita  armis  decerni  jui"e  tei- 
minarentur."  —  Velleius  Paterculus,  Lib.  IL  c.  118. 

2  Robertson,  History  of  Charles  V.,  Vol.  L  Note  22. 


158  WAR   SYSTEM   OF  THE 

among  tlie  claildren  of  the  family,  and  succeed  equally 
with  their  uncles,  if  their  father  happened  to  die  while 
their  grandfather  was  alive."  The  general  opinion  at 
first  was  for  reference  of  the  question  to  the  adjudication 
of  arbiters  ;  but  we  are  informed  by  a  contemporary 
ecclesiastic,  who  reports  the  case,  that  the  Emperor, 
Otho  the  First,  "  taking  better  counsel,  and  unwilling 
that  nobles  and  elders  of  the  people  should  be  treated 
dishonorably,  ordered  the  matter  to  be  decided  by  cham- 
pions with  the  sword."  The  champion  of  the  grand- 
children prevailed,  and  they  were  enabled  to  share 
with  their  uncles  in  the  inheritance.^  Human  folly 
did  not  end  here.  A  question  of  theology  was  sur- 
rendered to  the  same  arbitrament,  being  nothing  less 
than  whether  the  Musarabic  Liturgy,  used  in  the 
churches  of  Spain,  or  the  Liturgy  approved  at  Rome, 
contained  the  form  of  worship  most  acceptable  to  the 
Deity.  The  Spaniards  contended  zealously  for  the  lit- 
urgy of  their  ancestors.  The  Pope  urged  the  liturgy 
having  his  own  infallible  sanction.  The  controversy 
was  submitted  to  Trial  by  Battle.  Two  knights  in  com- 
plete armor  entered  the  lists.  The  champion  of  the 
Musarabic  Liturgy  was  victorious.  But  there  was  an 
appeal  to  the  ordeal  of  fire.  A  copy  of  each  liturgy 
was  cast  into  the  flames.  The  ]\Iusarabic  Liturgy  re- 
mained unhurt,  while  the  other  vanished  into  ashes. 
And  yet  this  judgment,  first  by  battle  and  then  by 
fire,  was  eluded  or  overthrown,  showing  how,  as  with 
War,  the  final  conclusion  is  uncertain,  and  testifying 
against  any  a])peal,  excejit  to  human  reason.^ 

1  Widukindii,  Res  Gestas  Saxonicae,  Lib.  II.  c.  10  :  Moniimeiita  Germania; 
Historica,  eil.  Pert/,,  Scriptonim  Tom.  III.  p.  440. 
*  Robertson,  History  of  Charles  V.,  Vol.  I.  Note  22.  —  The  Duel  has  a  liter- 


COMMONWEALTH    OF   NATIONS.  159 

An  early  king  of  the  Lombards,  in  a  formal  decree, 
condemned  the  Trial  by  Battle  as  "  impious "  ^ ;  Montes- 
quieu, at  a  later  time,  branded  it  as  "  monstrous  "  ^ ; 
and  Sir  William  Blackstone  characterized  it  as  "  clearly 
an  unchristian,  as  well  as  most  uncertain,  method  of 
trial."  ^  In  the  light  of  our  day  all  unite  in  this  con- 
demnation. No  man  hesitates.  No  man  undertakes 
its  apology  ;  nor  does  any  man  count  as  "  glory  "  the 
feats  of  arms  which  it  prompted  and  displayed.  But 
the  laws  of  morals  are  general,  and  not  special.  They 
apply  to  communities  and  to  nations,  as  well  as  to 
individuals  ;  nor  is  it  possible,  by  any  cunning  of  logic, 
or  any  device  of  human  wit,  to  distinguish  between 
that  domestic  institution,  the  Trial  by  Battle,  estab- 
lished by  Municipal  Law  as  arbiter  between  individ- 
uals, and  that  international  institution,  the  grander 
Trial  by  Battle,  established  by  the  Christian  Common- 
wealth as  arbiter  between  nations.  If  the  judicial  com- 
bat was  impious,  monstrous,  and  unchristian,  then  is 
War  impious,  monstrous,  and  unchristian. 

It  has  been  pointedly  said  in  England,  that  the  whole 
object  of  king,  lords,  and  commons,  and  of  the  com- 
plex British  Constitution,  is  "to  get  twelve  men  into 

ature  of  its  own,  which  is  not  neglected  by  Biiinet  in  his  Manuel  du  Libraire, 
where,  under  the  head  of  Les  Combats  SinguUers,  Tom.  VI.  col.  1636  - 1638, 
Table  Mtkodique,  28717 -2S7A9, -wm  be  found  titles  in  various  languages, 
from  which  I  select  the  following:  Joan,  de  Lignano,  Tractatus  de  Bello, 
de  Eepressaliis,  et  de  Duello,  Papise,  1487;  Tractatus  de  Duello,  en  Lat.  y 
en  Castellano,  por  D.  Castillo,  Taurini,  1525 ;  Alciat,  De  Singulari  Certamine, 
Lugd.,  1543.  In  the  development  of  civilization  how  can  the  literature  of 
War  expect  more  honor  than  that  of  the  Duel  V 

1  Liutprandi  Leges,  Lib.  VI.  cap.  65  :  Muratori,  Renim  Italic.  Script., 
Tom.  I.  Pars  2,  p.  74. 

2  Esprit  des  Lois,  Liv.  XXVIII.  ch.  23. 

3  Commentaries,  Book  IV.  ch.  33,  Vol.  IV.  p.  418. 


160  WAR   SYSTEM    OF  THE 

a  jury-box  "  ;  and  Mr.  Hume  repeats  the  idea,  when 
he  declares  that  the  administration  of  justice  is  the 
grand  aim  of  government.  If  this  be  true  of  individual 
nations  in  municipal  affairs,  it  is  equally  true  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Nations.  The  whole  complex  sys- 
tem of  the  Law  of  Nations,  overarching  all  the  Chris- 
tian nations,  has  but  one  distinct  object,  —  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  between  nations.  Would  that  with 
tongue  or  pen  I  could  adequately  expose  the  enormity 
of  this  system,  involving,  as  it  does,  the  precepts  of  re- 
ligion, the  dictates  of  common  sense,  the  sugge^ions  of 
economy,  and  the  most  precious  sympathies  of  human- 
ity !  Would  that  now  I  could  impart  to  all  wlio  hear 
me  something  of  my  own  conviction  ! 

I  need  not  dwell  on  the  waste  and  cruelty  thus  au- 
thorized. Travelling  the  page  of  history,  these  stare  us 
wildly  in  the  face  at  every  turn.  We  see  the  desolation 
and  death  keeping  step  with  the  bloody  track ;  we  look 
upon  sacked  towns,  ravaged  territories,  violated  homes  ; 
we  behold  all  the  sweet  charities  of  life  changed  to 
wormwood  and  gall.  The  soul  is  penetrated  by  the 
sharp  moan  of  mothers,  sisters,  and  daughters,  of 
fathers,  brothers,  and  sons,  who,  in  the  bitterness  of 
bereavement,  refuse  to  be  comforted.  The  eye  rests  at 
last  upon  one  of  those  fair  fields,  where  Nature,  in  her 
abundance,  spreads  her  cloth  of  gold,  spacious  and  apt 
for  the  entertainment  of  mighty  multitudes,  —  or,  per- 
haps, from  curious  subtilty  of  position,  like  the  carpet 
in  Arabian  tale,  contracting  for  the  accommodation  of  a 
few  only,  or  dilating  for  an  innumerable  host.  Here, 
under  a  bright  sun,  such  as  slione  at  Austerlitz  or  Buena 
Vista,  amidst  the  peaceful  harmonies  of  Nature,  on  the 
Sabbath  of  Peace,  are  bands  of  brotliers,  children  of 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  161 

a  common  Father,  heirs  to  a  common  happiness,  strug- 
gling together  in  deadly  fight,  —  with  madness  of  fallen 
spirits,  murderously"  seeking  the  lives  of  brothers  who 
never  injured  them  or  their  kindred.  The  havoc  rages  ; 
the  gi'ound  is  soaked  with  commingling  blood;  the 
air  is  rent  by  commingling  cries ;  horse  and  rider  are 
stretched  together  on  the  earth.  More  revolting  than 
mangled  victims,  gashed  limbs,  lifeless  trunks,  spatter- 
ing brains,  are  the  lawless  passions  which  sweep,  tem- 
pest-like, through  the  fiendish  tunmlt. 

"  '  Nearer  comes  the  storm  and  nearer,  rolling  fast  and  frightful  on. 
Speak,  Ximeiia,  speak,  and  tell  us,  who  has  lost  and  who  has  won? ' 
'Alas!  alas!  I  know  not,  sister;  friend  and  foe  together  fall; 
O'er  the  dying  rush  the  living;  pray,  my  sister,  for  them  all! ' " 

Horror-struck,  we  ask,  wherefore  this  hateful  contest  ? 
The  melancholy,  but  truthful,  answer  comes,  that  this 
is  the  established  method  of  determining  justice  between 
nations ! 

The  scene  changes.  Far  away  on  some  distant  path- 
way of  the  ocean,  two  ships  approach  each  other,  with 
white  canvas  broadly  spread  to  receive  the  flying  gale. 
Tliey  are  proudly  built.  All  of  human  art  has  been 
lavished  in  their  graceful  proportions  and  compacted 
sides,  while  in  dimensions  tliey  look  like  floating  happy 
islands  of  the  sea.  A  numerous  crew,  with  costly  appli- 
ances of  comfort,  hives  in  their  secure  shelter.  Surely 
these  two  travellers  must  meet  in  joy  and  friendship ; 
the  flag  at  mast-head  will  give  the  signal  of  fellowship  ; 
the  delighted  sailors  will  cluster  in  rigging  and  on  yard- 
arms  to  look  each  other  in  the  face,  while  exhilarating 
voices  mingle  in  accents  of  gladness  uncontrollable. 
Alas  !  alas  1  it  is  not  so.  Xot  as  brotliers,  not  as  friends, 
not  as  wayfarers  of  the  common  ocean,  do  they  come  to- 


162  ^VAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

gether,  but  as  enemies.  The  closing  vessels  now  bristle 
fiercely  with  death-dealing  implements.  On  their  spa- 
cious decks,  aloft  on  all  their  masts,  flashes  the  deadly 
musketry.  From  their  sides  spout  cataracts  of  flame, 
amidst  the  pealing  thunders  of  a  fatal  artillery.  They 
who  had  escaped  "  the  dreadful  touch  of  merchant-mar- 
ring rocks,"  who  on  their  long  and  solitary  way  liad 
sped  unharmed  by  wind  or  wave,  whom  the  hurricane 
had  spared,  in  whose  favor  storms  and  seas  had  inter- 
mitted their  immitigable  war,  now  at  last  fall  by  the 
hand  of  each  other.  From  both  ships  the  same  specta- 
cle of  horror  greets  us.  On  decks  reddened  with  blood, 
the  murders  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers  and  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew, with  the  fires  of  Smith  field,  break  forth  anew,  and 
concentrate  their  rage.  Each  is  a  swimming  Golgotlia. 
At  length  these  vessels  —  such  pageants  of  the  sea,  such 
marvels  of  art,  once  so  stately,  but  now  rudely  shattered 
by  cannon-ball,  with  shi^'ered  masts  and  ragged  sails  — 
exist  only  as  unmanageable  wrecks,  weltering  on  the 
uncertain  wave,  whose  transient  lull  of  peace  is  their 
sole  safety.  In  amazement  at  this  strange,  unnatural 
contest,  away  from  country  and  home,  where  there  is 
no  country  or  home  to  defend,  we  ask  again,  Where- 
fore this  dismal  scene  ?  Again  the  melancholy,  but 
truthful,  answer  promptly  comes,  that  this  is  the  ed(xh~ 
lished  method  of  determining  justice  between  nations. 

Yes !  the  barbarous,  brutal  relations  which  once  pre- 
vailed between  individuals,  which  prevailed  still  longer 
l)etween  communities  composing  nations,  are  not  yet 
banished  from  the  great  Christian  Commonwealth.  Re- 
ligion, reason,  humanity,  first  penetrate  the  individual, 
next  larger  bodies,  and,  widening  in  influence,  slowly 
leaven  nations.      Thus,  while  condenniing  the  bloody 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  163 

contests  of  individuals,  also  of  towns,  counties,  princi- 
palities, provinces,  and  denying  to  all  these  the  right  of 
waging  war,  or  of  appeal  to  Trial  h>/  Battle,  we  continue 
to  uphold  an  atrocious  System  of  folly  and  crime,  which 
is  to  nations  what  the  System  of  Petty  Wars  was  to 
towns,  counties,  principalities,  provinces,  also  what  the 
Duel  was  to  individuals :  for  War  is  the  Duel  of  Na- 
tions} As  from  Pluto's  throne  flowed  those  terrible 
rivers,  Styx,  Acheron,  Cocytus,  and  Phlegethon,  with 
lamenting  waters  and  currents  of  flame,  so  from  this 
established  System  flow  the  direful  tides  of  War.  "  Give 
them  Hell,"  w^as  the  language  written  on  a  slate  by 
an  American  officer,  speechless  from  approaching  death. 
"  Ours  is  a  damnable  profession,"  was  the  confession  of 
a  veteran  British  general.  "War  is  the  trade  of  bar- 
barians," exclaimed  Napoleon,  in  a  moment  of  truthful 
remorse,  prompted  by  his  bloodiest  field.  Alas !  these 
words  are  not  too  strong.  The  business  of  War  cannot 
be  other  than  the  trade  of  barbarians,  cannot  be  other 
than  a  damnable  profession ;  and  War  itself  is  certainly 
Hell  on  earth.  But  forget  not,  bear  always  in  mind, 
and  let  the  idea  sink  deep  into  your  souls,  animating 
you  to  constant  endeavor,  that  this  trade  of  barbarians, 
this  damnable  profession,  is  part  of  the  War  System, 
sanctioned  by  International  Law,  —  and  that  War  itself 
is  Hell,  recognized,  legalized,  established,  organized,  by 

1  Plautus  speaks  in  the  Epidicus  (Act  III.  Sc.  iv.  14,  15)  of  one  who 
obtained  great  riches  by  the  Duelling  Art,  meaning  the  Art  of  War:  — 
"  Arte  duellicn 
Divitias  magnas  indeptiim." 
And  Horace,  in  his  Odes  (Lib.  IV.  Carm.  xv.  4-9),  hails  the  age  of  Augus- 
tus, as  at  peace,  or  free  from  Duels,  and  with  the  Temple  of  Janus  closed:  — 
"  Tua,  Csesar,  setas 

vacuum  duellis 

Janum  Quirini  clausit." 


164  WAR   SYSTEM   OF  THE 

the  Commonwealth  of  Nations,  for  the  determination  of 
international  questions  ! 

"  Put  together,"  says  Voltaire,  "  all  the  vices  of  all 
ages  and  places,  and  they  will  not  come  up  to  the  mis- 
chiefs of  one  campaign."  1  This  strong  speech  is  sup- 
ported by  the  story  of  ancient  mythology,  that  Juno 
confided  the  infant  Mars  to  Priapus.  Another  of  near- 
er truth  might  be  made.  Put  together  all  the  ills  and 
calamities  from  the  visitations  of  God,  whether  in  con- 
vulsions of  Nature,  or  in  pestilence  and  famine,  and 
they  will  not  equal  the  ills  and  calamities  inflicted  by 
man  upon  his  brother-man,  through  the  visitation  of 
War,  —  while,  alas  !  the  sufferings  of  War  are  too  often 
without  the  alleviation  of  those  gentle  virtues  which  ever 
attend  the  involuntary  misfortunes  of  the  race.  Where 
the  horse  of  Attila  had  been  a  blade  of  grass  would  not 
grow ;  but  in  the  footprints  of  pestilence,  famine,  and 
earthquake  the  kindly  charities  spring  into  life. 

The  last  hundred  years  have  witnessed  three  peculiar 
visitations  of  God :  first,  the  earthquake  at  Lisbon ; 
next,  the  Asiatic  cholera,  as  it  moved  slow  and  ghastly, 
with  scythe  of  death,  from  the  Delta  of  the  Ganges 
over  Bengal,  Persia,  Arabia,  Syria,  Eussia,  till  Europe 
and  America  shuddered  before  the  spectral  reaper ;  and, 
lastly,  the  recent  famine  in  Ireland,  consuming  with 
remorseless  rage  the  population  of  that  ill-starred  land. 
It  is  impossible  to  estimate  precisely  the  deadly  work 
of  cholera  or  famine,  nor  can  we  picture  the  miseries 
which  they  entailed  ;  but  the  single  brief  event  of  the 
earthquake  may  be  portrayed  in  authentic  colors. 

Lisbon,  whose  ancient  origin  is  referred  by  fable  to 

1  Dlctionnaire  Pliilosopliiquc,  Art.  Guerre. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  165 

the  wanderings  of  Ulysses,  was  one  of  the  fairest  cities 
of  Europe.  From  the  summit  of  seven  hills  it  looked 
down  upon  the  sea,  and  the  bay  bordered  with  cheerful 
villages,  —  upon  the  broad  Tagus,  expanding  into  a  harbor 
ample  for  all  the  navies  of  Europe,  —  and  upon  a  coun- 
try of  rare  beauty,  smiling  with  the  olive  and  the  or- 
ange, amidst  grateful  shadows  of  the  cypress  and  the 
elm.  A  climate  offering  flowers  in  winter  enhanced  the 
pecuhar  advantages  of  position ;  and  a  numerous  popula- 
tion thronged  its  narrow  and  irregular  streets.  Its  forty 
churches,  its  palaces,  its  public  edifices,  its  warehouses, 
its  convents,  its  fortresses,  its  citadel,  had  become  a 
boast.  Kot  by  War,  not  by  the  hand  of  man,  were 
these  solid  structures  levelled,  and  all  these  delights 
changed  to  desolation. 

Lisbon,  on  the  morning  of  November  1,  1755,  was 
taken  and  sacked  by  an  earthquake.  The  spacious 
warehouses  were  destroyed ;  the  lordly  palaces,  the  mass- 
ive convents,  the  impregnable  fortresses,  with  the  lofty 
citadel,  were  toppled  to  the  gTound  ;  and  as  the  af- 
frighted people  sought  shelter  in  the  churches,  they 
were  crushed  beneath  the  faUing  masses.  Twenty  thou- 
sand persons  perished.  Fire  and  robbery  mingled  with 
earthquake,  and  the  beautiful  city  seemed  to  be  oblit- 
erated. The  nations  of  Europe  were  touched  by  this 
terrible  catastrophe,  and  succor  from  all  sides  was  soon 
offered.  Within  three  months,  English  vessels  appeared 
in  the  Tagus,  loaded  with  generous  contributions, — 
twenty  thousand  pounds  in  gold,  a  similar  sum  in  silver, 
six  thousand  barrels  of  salted  meat,  four  thousand  barrels 
of  butter,  one  thousand  bags  of  biscuit,  twelve  hundred 
barrels  of  rice,  ten  thousand  quintals  of  corn,  besides 
hats,  stockings,  and  shoes. 


166  WAR   SYSTEM   OF  THE 

Such  was  the  desolation,  and  sucli  the  charity,  sown 
Ly  the  earthquake  at  Lisbon,  —  an  event  which,  after 
the  lapse  of  nearly  a  century,  still  stands  without  a 
parallel.  But  War  shakes  from  its  terrible  folds  all 
this  desolation,  without  its  attendant  charity.  Nay, 
more  ;  the  Commonwealth  of  Nations  voluntarily 
agrees,  each  with  the  others,  under  the  grave  sanctions 
of  International  Law,  to  invoke  this  desolation,  in 
the  settlement  of  controversies  among  its  members, 
while  it  expressly  declares  that  all  nations,  not  al- 
ready parties  to  the  controversy,  must  abstain  from 
any  succor  to  the  unhappy  victim.  High  tribunals 
are  established  expressly  to  uphold  this  arbitrament, 
and,  with  unrelenting  severity,  to  enforce  its  ancillary 
injunctions,  to  the  end  that  no  aid,  no  charity,  shall 
come  to  revive  the  sufferer  or  alleviate  the  calamity. 
Vera  Cruz  has  been  bombarded  and  wasted  by  Amer- 
ican arms.  Its  citadel,  churches,  houses,  were  shat- 
tered, and  peaceful  families  at  the  fireside  torn  in 
mutilated  fragments  by  the  murderous  bursting  shell; 
but  the  English,  the  universal  charities,  wliich  helped  to 
restore  Lisbon,  were  not  offered  to  the  ruined  Mexican 
city.  They  could  not  have  been  offered,  without  offend- 
ing against  the  Laws  of  War  ! 

It  is  because  men  see  War,  in  the  darkness  of  preju- 
dice, only  as  an  agency  of  attack  or  defence,  or  as  a 
desperate  sally  of  wickedness,  that  they  fail  to  recog- 
nize it  as  a  form  of  judgment,  sanctioned  and  legal- 
ized by  Public  Authority.  Iicgarding  it  in  its  true 
character,  as  an  establishment  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Nations,  and  one  of  the  "  liberties  "  accorded  to  inde- 
pendent nations,  it  is  no  longer  the  expression  merely 


COMMONWEALTH    OF   NATIONS.  167 

of  lawless  or  hasty  passion,  no  longer  the  necessary 
incident  of  imperfect  human  nature,  no  longer  an  un- 
avoidable, uncontrollable  volcanic  eruption  of  rage,  of 
vengeances  and  counter-vengeances,  knowing  no  bound ; 
but  it  becomes  a  gigantic  and  monstrous  Institution 
for  the  adjudication  of  international  rights,  —  as  if  an 
earthquake,  or  other  visitation  of  God,  with  its  un- 
counted woes,  and  without  its  attendant  charities^  were 
legally  invoked  as  Arbiter  of  Justice. 

Surely  all  must  unite  in  condemning  the  Arbitrament 
of  War.  The  simplest  may  read  and  comprehend  its 
enormity.  Can  we  yet  hesitate  ?  But  if  War  be  thus 
odious,  if  it  be  the  Duel  of  Nations,  if  it  be  the  old 
surviving  Trial  by  Battle,  then  must  its  unquestiona- 
ble barbarism  affect  all  its  incidents,  all  its  machinery, 
all  its  enginery,  together  with  all  who  sanction  it,  and 
aU  who  have  any  part  or  lot  in  it,  —  in  fine,  the  whole 
vast  System.  It  is  impossible,  by  any  discrimination, 
to  separate  the  component  parts.  We  must  regard  it 
as  a  whole,  in  its  entirety.  But  half  our  work  is  done, 
if  we  confine  ourselves  to  a  condemnation  of  the  Insti- 
tution merely.  There  are  all  its  instruments  and  agen- 
cies, all  its  adjuncts  and  accessaries,  all  its  furniture  and 
equipage,  all  its  armaments  and  operations,  the  whole 
apparatus  of  forts,  navies,  armies,  military  display,  mili- 
tary chaplains,  and  military  sermons,  —  all  together  con- 
stituting, in  connection  with  the  Institution  of  War, 
what  may  be  called  the  War  Syste:\l  This  System 
we  would  abohsh,  believing  that  religion,  humanity, 
and  policy  require  the  establishment  of  some  peaceful 
means  for  the  administration  of  international  justice, 
and  also  the  general  disarming  of  the  Christian  nations, 
to  the  end  that  the  prodigious  expenditures  now  ab- 


168  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

sorbed  by  the  War  System  may  be  applied  to  purposes 
of  usefukiess  and  beneficence,  and  that  the  business  of 
the  soldier  may  cease  forever. 

While  earnestly  professing  this  object,  I  desire  again 
to  exclude  all  question  of  self-defence,  and  to  affirm  the 
duty  of  upholding  government,  and  maintaining  the  su- 
premacy of  the  law,  whether  on  land  or  sea.  Admit- 
ting the  necessity  of  Force  for  such  purpose,  Christianity 
revolts  at  Force  as  the  substitute  for  a  judicial  tribunal. 
The  example  of  the  Great  Teacher,  the  practice  of 
the  early  disciples,  the  injunctions  of  self-denial,  love, 
non-resistance  to  evil,  —  sometimes  supposed  to  forbid 
Force  in  any  exigency,  even  of  self-defence,  —  all  these 
must  apply  with  unquestionable  certainty  to  the  estab- 
lished System  of  War.  Here,  at  least,  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  If  the  sword,  in  the  hand  of  an  assaulted  indi- 
vidual, may  become  the  instrument  of  sincere  self-de- 
fence, if,  under  the  sanction  of  a  judicial  tribunal,  it 
may  become  the  instrument  of  Justice  also,  surely  it 
can  never  be  the  Arbiter  of  Justice.  Here  is  a  distinc- 
tion vital  to  the  cause  of  Peace,  and  never  to  be  forgot- 
ten in  presenting  its  claims.  The  cautious  sword  of 
the  magistrate  is  unlike  —  oh,  how  unlike  !  —  the  ruth- 
less sword  of  War. 

The  component  parts  of  the  War  System  may  all  be 
resolved  into  Pkeparations  for  War,  —  as  court-house, 
jail,  judges,  slieriffs,  constables,  and  posse  comitatns  are 
preparations  for  the  administration  of  municipal  justice. 
If  justice  were  not  to  be  administered,  these  would  not 
exist.  If  War  were  not  sanctioned  by  the  Common- 
wealth of  Nations,  as  the  means  of  determining  inter- 
national controversies,  then  forts,  navies,  armies,  military 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  169 

display^,  military  chaplains,  and  military  sermons  would 
not  exist.  They  would  be  useless  and  irrational,  ex- 
cept for  the  rare  occasions  of  a  police, — as  similar  prep- 
arations would  now  be  in  Boston,  for  defence  against 
our  learned  neiglibor,  Cambridge,  —  or  in  the  County  of 
Essex,  for  defence  against  its  populous  neighbor,  the 
County  of  Middlesex,  —  or  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts, 
for  defence  against  its  conterminous  States,  Ehode  Isl- 
and and  iSTew  York.  Only  recently  have  men  learned 
to  question  these  preparations ;  for  it  is  only  recently 
that  they  have  opened  their  eyes  to  the  true  character 
of  the  system,  in  which  they  are  a  part.  It  loill  yet  he 
seen,  that,  sustaining  these,  toe  sustain  the  system.  Still 
further,  it  will  yet  be  seen,  that,  sustaining  these,  we 
wastefully  offend  against  economy,  and  violate  also  the 
most  precious  sentiments  of  Human  Brotherhood, — 
taking  counsel  of  distrust,  instead  of  love,  and  provok- 
ing to  rivalry  and  enmity,  instead  of  association  and 
peace. 

Time  does  not  allow  me  to  discuss  the  nature  of  these 
preparations;  and  I  am  the  more  willing  to  abridge 
what  I  am  tempted  to  say,  because,  on  another  occa- 
sion, I  have  treated  this  part  of  the  subject.  But  I 
cannot  forbear  to  expose  their  inconsistency  with  the 
spirit  of  Christianity.  From  a  general  comprehension 
of  the  War  System,  we  perceive  the  unchristian  charac- 
ter of  the  preparations  it  encourages  and  requires,  nay, 
which  are  the  synonyms  of  the  system,  or  at  least  its 
representatives.  I  might  exhibit  this  character  by  an 
examination  of  the  Laws  of  War,  drawn  from  no  ce- 
lestial fount,  but  from  a  dark  profound  of  Heathenism. 
This  is  imnecessary.  The  Constitution  of  our  own 
country  furnishes  an  illustration  remarkable  as  a  touch- 


170  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

stone  of  the  whole  system.  No  to^vn,  county,  or  state 
has  the  "liberty"  to  "declare  War."  The  exercise  of  any 
proper  seK-defence,  arising  from  actual  necessity,  re- 
quires no  such  "  liberty."  Congress  is  expressly  author- 
ized to  "  declare  War,"  —  that  is,  to  invoke  the  Arbitra- 
ment of  Arms.  And  the  Constitution  proceeds  to  state, 
that  all  "  giving  aid  and  comfort "  to  the  enemy  shall  be 
deemed  traitors.  Mark  now  what  is  said  by  a  higher 
authority.  "  Love  your  enemies "  ;  "  If  thine  enemy 
hunger,  feed  him ;  if  he  thirst,  give  him  drink."  Under 
the  War  System,  obedience  to  these  positive  injunctions 
may  expose  a  person  to  the  penalty  of  the  highest  crime 
known  to  the  law.  Can  this  be  a  Christian  system  ? 
But  so  long  as  War  exists  as  an  Institution  this  terrible 
inconsistency  must  appear. 

The  character  of  these  preparations  is  distinctly, 
though  unconsciously,  attested  by  the  names  of  vessels 
in  the  British  Navy.  From  the  latest  official  list  I  select 
an  illustrative  catalogue.  Most  are  steam-ships  of  re- 
cent construction.  Therefore  they  represent  the  si)irit 
of  the  British  Navy  in  our  day,  —  nay,  of  those  War 
Preparations  in  which  they  play  so  conspicuous  a  part. 
Here  are  the  champions :  Acheron,  Adder,  Alecto, 
Avenger,  Basilisk,  Bloodhound,  Bulldog,  Crocodile, 
Erebus,  Firebrand,  Fury,  Gladiator,  Goliah,  Gorgon, 
Harpy,  Hecate,  Hound,  Jackal,  Mastiff,  Pluto,  Eattle- 
snake.  Revenge,  Salamander,  Savage,  Scorpion,  Scourge, 
Serpent,  Spider,  Spiteful,  Spitfire,  Styx,  Sulpluir,  Tartar, 
Tartarus,  Teazer,  Terriljle,  Terror,  Vengeance,  Viper, 
Vixen,  Virago,  Volcano,  Vulture,  Warspite,  Wildfire, 
Wolf,  Wolverine ! 

Such  is  the  Christian  array  of  Victoria,  Defender  of 
the  Faith  !     It  may  roniind  us  of  tlie  companions  of 


I 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  IJl 

King  John,  at  another  period  of  English  history,  — 
"  Falkes  the  Merciless,"  "  Mauleon  the  Bloody,"  "  Wal- 
ter Buck,  the  Assassin,"  ^  —  or  of  that  Pagan  swarm, 
the  savage  warriors  of  our  own  continent,  with  the 
names  of  Black -Hawk,  Man-Killer,  and  Wild -Boar. 
Well  might  they  seem  to  be 

"  all  the  grisly  legions  that  troop 
Under  the  sooty  flag  of  Acheron !  " 

As  a  people  is  known  by  its  laws,  as  a  man  is  known 
by  the  company  he  keeps,  as  a  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits, 
so  is  the  War  System  fully  and  unequivocally  known  by 
the  Lav/s  of  War,  by  its  diabohcal  ministers,  typical  of 
its  preparations,  and  by  all  the  accursed  fruits  of  War. 
Controlled  by  such  a  code,  employing  such  representa- 
tives, sustained  by  stich  agencies,  animated  by  such  Fu- 
ries, and  producing  such  fruits  of  tears  and  bitterness, 
it  must  be  open  to  question.  Tell  me  not  that  it  is  sanc- 
tioned by  any  religion  except  of  Mars  ;  do  not  enroll  the 
Saviour  and  his  disciples  in  its  Satanic  squadron ;  do  not 
invoke  the  Gospel  of  Peace,  in  profane  vindication  of 
an  Institution,  which,  by  its  own  too  palpable  confession, 
exists  in  defiance  of  the  most  cherished  Christian  senti- 
ments ;  do  not  dishonor  the  Divine  Spirit  of  gentleness, 
forbearance,  love,  by  supposing  that  it  can  ever  enter 
into  this  System,  except  to  change  its  whole  nature  and 
name,  to  cast  out  the  devils  which  possess  it,  and  fill  its 
gigantic  energies  with  the  inspiration  of  Beneficence. 

I  need  say  little  of  military  cliaplains  or  military  ser- 
mons. Like  the  steamships  of  the  Na^y,  they  come 
under  the  head  of  Preparations.  They  are  part  of  the 
War  System.  They  belong  to  the  same  school  witli 
priests  of   former  times,  who  held  the  picture  of  the 

1  ]\Iatthew  Paris,  Historia  Major,  p.  274. 


172  WAR   SYSTEM   OF  THE 

Prince  of  Peace  before  the  barbarous  champion  of  the 
Duel,  sapng,  "  Sir  Knight,  behold  here  the  remembrance 
of  our  Lord  and  Eedeemer,  Jesus  Christ,  who  willingly 
gave  his  most  precious  body  to  death  in  order  to  save 
us.  Now  ask  of  him  mercy,  and  pray  that  on  this  day 
he  may  be  willing  to  aid  you,  if  you  have  right,  for  he  is 
the  sovereign  judge."  ^  They  belong  to  the  same  school 
with  English  prelates,  who,  in  the  name  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace,  consecrate  banners  to  flaunt  in  remote  war,  say- 
ing, "  Be  thou  in  the  midst  of  our  hosts,  as  thou  wast 
in  the  plains  of  India  and  in  the  field  of  Waterloo ; 
and  may  these  banners,  which  we  bless  and  consecrate 
this  day,  lead  them  ever  on  to  glorious  victory."  No 
judgment  of  such  appeals  can  be  more  severe  than  that 
of  Plato,  who  called  men  "  most  impious,"  who  by  prayer 
and  sacrifice  thought  to  propitiate  the  Gods  towards 
slaughter  and  outrages  upon  justice,  —  thus,  says  the 
heathen  philosopher,  making  those  pure  beings  the  ac- 
complices of  their  crimes  by  sharing  with  them  the 
spoil,  as  the  wolves  leave  something  to  the  dogs,  that 
these  may  allow  them  to  ravage  the  sheepfold.^  Con- 
senting to  degrade  the  "  blessedness  "  of  the  Gospel  to  tlie 
"  impiety  "  of  the  War  System,  our  clergy  follow  long 
established  custom,  without  considering  the  true  charac- 
ter of  the  system  whose  ministers  they  become.  Their 
apology  will  be,  that  "  they  know  not  what  they  do." 

Again  I  repeat,  so  long  as  the  War  System  prevails 
under  the  sanction  of  International  Law,  these  painful 
incongruities  will  be  apparent.  They  belong  to  a  system 
so  essentially  irrational,  that  all  the  admitted  virtues  of 
many  of  its  agents  cannot  save  it  from  judgment. 

*  Cauchy,  Du  Duel,  Liv.  I.  Seconde  f^poqiie,  Ch.  III.  Tom.  I.  p.  74. 
2  Plato,  Laws,  Book  X.  ch.  13,  14. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  173 

Here  the  question  occurs,  Is  the  Militia  obnoxious  to 
the  same  condemnation  ?  So  far  as  the  militia  consti- 
tutes part  of  the  War  System,  it  is  impossible  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  the  rest  of  the  system.  It  is  a  portion 
of  the  extensive  apparatus  provided  for  the  determi- 
nation of  international  disputes.  From  tliis  character  it 
borrows  the  unwholesome  attractions  of  War,  while  dis- 
porting itself,  like  the  North  American  Indian,  in  finery 
and  parade.  Of  the  latter  feature  I  shall  speak  only 
incidentally.  If  War  be  a  Christian  institution,  those 
who  act  as  its  agents  should  shroud  themselves  in  colors 
congenial  with  their  dreadful  trade.  With  sorrow  and 
solemnity,  not  with  gladness  and  pomp,  they  should 
proceed  to  their  melancholy  office.  The  Jew  Shylock 
exposes  the  mockery  of  street-shows  in  Venice  with 
a  sarcasm  not  without  echo  here  :  — 

"  When  you  hear  the  drum, 
And  the  vDe  squeaking  of  the  wry-necked  fife, 
Clamber  not  you  up  to  the  casements  then. 
Nor  thrust  your  head  into  the  pubhc  street, 
To  gaze  on  Christian  fools  with  varnished  faces; 
But  stop  my  house's  ears, —  I  mean  my  casements: 
Let  not  the  sound  of  shallow  foppery  enter 
Mj'  sober  house." 

Not  as  part  of  the  War  System,  but  only  as  an 
agent  for  preserving  domestic  peace,  and  for  sustaining 
the  law,  is  the  militia  entitled  to  support.  And  here 
arises  the  important  practical  question,  —  interesting 
to  opponents  of  the  War  System  as  to  lovers  of  order, 
—  whether  the  same  good  object  may  not  be  accom- 
plished by  an  agent  less  expensive,  less  cumbersome, 
and  less  tardy,  forming  no  part  of  the  War  System,  and 
therefore  in  no  respect  liable  to  the  doubts  encountered 
by  the  militia.     Supj)orters  of  the  militia  do  not  dis- 


174  ,  WAK  SYSTEM   OF  THE 

guise  its  growing  unpopularity.  The  eminent  Military 
Commissioners  of  Massachusetts,  to  whom  in  1847  was 
referred  the  duty  of  arranging  a  system  for  its  organiza- 
tion and  discipline,  confess  that  there  is  "  either  a  de- 
fect of  power  in  the  State  government  to  an  efficient 
and  salutary  militia  organization,  or  the  absence  of  a 
public  sentiment  in  its  favor,  and  a  consequent  unwill- 
ingness to  submit  to  the  requirements  of  service  which 
alone  can  sustain  it "  ;  and  they  add,  that  they  "  have 
been  met,  in  the  performance  of  their  task,  with  in- 
formation, from  all  quarters,  of  its  general  neglect,  and 
of  the  certain  and  rapid  declension  of  the  militia  in 
numbers  and  efficiency."  ^  And  the  Adjutant-General 
of  Massachusetts,  after  alluding  to  the  different  systems 
which  have  fallen  into  disuse,  remarks,  that  "  the  fate 
of  each  system  is  indicative  of  public  sentiment ;  and 
until  public  sentiment  changes,  no  military  system  what- 
ever can  be  sustained  in  the  State."  ^  Nor  is  this  condition 
of  public  sentiment  for  the  first  time  noticed.  It  was 
remarked  by  the  Commissioners  charged  by  the  Legis- 
lature with  this  subject  as  long  ago  as  1839.  In  their 
Report  they  say,  "  It  is  enough  to  know  that  all  attempts, 
hitherto,  to  uphold  the  system,  in  its  original  design  of 
organization,  discipline,  and  subordination,  arc  at  last 
hrovgld  to  an  unsuccessful  issue."  ^ 

None  familiar  with  public  opinion  in  our  country,  and 
particularly  in  Massachusetts,  will  question  the  accuracy 
of  these  official  statements.  It  is  true  that  there  is  an 
indisposition  to  assume  the  burdens  of  tlie  militia.  Its 
offices  and  dignities  ha^'e  ceased  to  be  an  olsject  of  gen- 
eral regard.     This,  certainly,  must  be  founded  in  the  con- 

1  Mass.  Senate  Documents,  1848:  Doc.  No.  13,  pp.  4,  5. 

2  Ibid.,  Doc.  No.  15,  p.  23. 

8  Mass.  House  Documents.  1839:  Doc.  No.  6,  p  14. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  175 

viction  that  it  is  no  longer  necessary  or  useful ;  for  it  is 
not  customary  with  the  people  of  Massachusetts  to  de- 
cline occasions  of  service  necessary  or  useful  to  the  com- 
munity. The  interest  in  military  celebrations  has  de- 
cayed. Nor  should  it  be  concealed  that  there  are  large 
numbers  whose  honest  sentiments  are  not  of  mere  indif- 
ference, who  regard  w^ith  a\'ersion  the  fanfaronade  of  a 
militia  muster,  who  not  a  little  question  the  influence 
upon  those  taking  part  in  it  or  even  witnessing  it,  and 
look  with  regret  upon  the  expenditure  of  money  and 
time. 

If  such  be  the  condition  of  the  public  mind,  the  Gov- 
ernment must  recognize  it.  The  soul  of  all  effective  laws 
is  an  animating  public  sentiment.  Tliis  gives  vitali- 
ty to  what  else  would  be  a  dead  letter.  In  vain  enact 
what  is  not  inspired  by  this  spirit.  No  skill  in  the  de- 
vice of  the  system,  no  penalties,  no  bounties  even,  can 
uphold  it.  Happily,  we  are  not  without  remedy.  If 
State  Legislatures  are  disposed  to  provide  a  substitute 
for  this  questionable  or  offensive  agency,  as  conservator 
of  domestic  quiet,  it  is  entirely  within  their  competency. 
Let  the  general  voice  demand  the  substitute. 

Among  powers  reserved  to  States,  under  the  National 
Constitution,  is  that  of  Internal  Police.  Within  its  ter- 
ritorial limits,  a  State  has  municipal  power  to  be  exer- 
cised according  to  its  own  will.  In  the  exercise  of  this 
will,  it  may  establish  a  system,  congenial  with  the  senti- 
ment of  the  age,  to  supply  the  place  of  the  militia,  as 
guardian  of  municipal  quiet  and  instrument  of  the  law. 
This  system  may  consist  of  unpaid  volunteers,  or  special 
constables,  like  fire  companies  in  the  country,  or  of  hired 
men,  enrolled  for  this  particular  purpose,  and  always 
within  call,  like  fire  companies  in  Boston.     They  need 


176  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

not  be  clad  in  showy  costume,  or  subjected  to  all  the 
peculiarities  of  military  drill.  A  system  so  simple,  prac- 
tical, ethcient,  unostentatious,  and  cheap,  especially  as 
compared  with  the  militia,  would  be  in  harmony  with 
existing  sentiment,  while  it  could  not  fail  to  remedy 
the  evils  sometimes  feared  from  present  neglect  of  the 
militia.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  reform  the 
militia.  It  remains,  that  a  jproipcr  effort  should  he  made 
to  jfrovide  a  substitute  for  it. 

An  eminent  English  jurist  of  the  last  century,  —  re- 
nowned as  scholar  also,  —  Sir  William  Jones,  —  in  a 
learned  and  ingenious  tract,  entitled  "An  Inquiry  into 
the  Legal  Mode  of  Suppressing  Eiots,  with  a  Constitu- 
tional Plan  of  Future  Defence,"  after  developing  the  ob- 
ligations of  the  citizen,  under  the  Common  Law,  as  part 
of  the  Power  of  the  County,  presents  a  system  of  organi- 
zation independent  of  the  military.  It  is  not  probable 
that  this  system  would  be  acceptable  in  all  its  details 
to  the  people  of  our  community,  but  there  is  one  of  his 
recommendations  which  seems  to  harmonize  with  exist- 
ing sentiment.  "  Let  companies,"  he  says,  "  be  taught,  in 
the  most  private  and  orderly  manner,  for  two  or  three 
hours  early  every  morning,  until  they  are  competently 
skilled  in  the  use  of  their  arms  ;  let  them,  not  unneces- 
sarily march  through  streets  or  high-roads,  nor  make  any 
the  least  military  'parade,  hut  consider  themselves  entirely 
as  part  of  the  civil  state."  ^  Thus  is  the  soldier  kept  out 
of  sight,  while  the  citizen  becomes  manifest ;  and  this 
is  the  true  idea  of  republican  government.  In  the 
midst  of  arms  the  laws  are  silent.  Not  "arms,"  but 
"laws,"  should  command  our  homage  and  quicken  the 
patriotism  of  the  land. 

1  Works,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  494. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  I77 

Wliile  divorcing  the  Police  from  the  unchristian  and 
barbarous  War  System,  I  confess  the  vital  importance 
of  maintaining  law  and  order.  Life  and  property  should 
be  guarded.  Peace  must  be  preserved  in  our  streets. 
And  it  is  the  duty  of  Government  to  provide  such 
means  as  are  most  expedient,  if  those  established  are 
in  any  respect  inadequate,  or  uncongenial  with  the 
Spirit  of  the  Age. 

I  must  not  close  this  exposition  without  an  attempt 
to  display  the  inordinate  expenditure  by  which  the  War 
System  is  maintained.  '  And  here  figures  appear  to  lose 
their  functions.  They  seem  to  pant,  as  they  toil  vainly 
to  represent  the  enormous  sums  consumed  in  this  un- 
paralleled waste.  Our  own  experience,  measured  by  the 
concerns  of  common  life,  does  not  allow  us  adequately 
to  conceive  the  sums.  Like  the  periods  of  geological 
time,  or  the  distances  of  the  fixed  stars,  they  baffle  im- 
agination. Look,  for  an  instant,  at  the  cost  to  us  of  this 
system.  Without  any  allowance  for  the  loss  sustained 
by  the  withdrawal  of  active  men  from  productive  indus- 
try, we  find,  that,  from  the  adoption  of  the  National  Con- 
stitution down  to  1848,  there  has  been  paid  directly  from 
the  National  Treasury,  — 

For  the  Army  and  Fortifications,        $475,936,475 
For  the  Navy  and  its  operations,  209,994,428 

$685,930,9031 

This  immense  amount  is  not  all.  Eegarding  the  mili- 
tia as  part  of  the  War  System,  we  must  add  a  moderate 
estimate  for  its  cost  during  this  period,  being,  according 

^  American  Almanac,  1849,  p.  162.  United  States  Executive  Documents: 
28th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  No.  15,  pp.  1018-19;  35th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  No.  60. 
pp.  6.  7. 


178  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

to  the  calculations  of  an  able  and  accurate  economist,  as 
much  as  $  1,500,000,000.^  The  whole  presents  an  incon- 
ceivable sum-total  of  more  than  two  thousand  nfiillions 
of  dollars  already  dedicated  by  our  Government  to  the 
support  of  the  War  System,  —  nearly  twelve  times  as 
much  as  was  set  apart,  during  the  same  period,  to  all 
other  purposes  whatsoever ! 

Look  now  at  the  Commonwealth  of  Europe.  I  do  not 
intend  to  speak  of  War  Debts,  under  whose  accumulated 
weight  these  nations  ai^e  now  pressed  to  earth,  being  the 
terrible  legacy  of  the  Past.  I  refer  directly  to  the  ex- 
isting War  System,  the  establishment  of  the  Present. 
According  to  recent  calculations,  its  annual  cost  is  not 
less  than  a  thousand  millions  of  dollars.  Endeavor,  for 
a  moment,  by  comparison  with  other  interests,  to  grap- 
ple with  this  sum. 

It  is  larger  than  the  entire  profit  of  all  tlie  commerce 
and  manufactures  of  the  world. 

It  is  larger  than  all  the  expenditure  for  agricultural 
labor,  producing  the  food  of  man,  upon  the  whole  face 
of  the  globe. 

It  is  larger,  by  a  hundred  millions,  than  the  value 
of  all  the  exports  sent  forth  by  all  the  nations  of  tlie 
earth. 

It  is  larger,  by  more  than  five  hundred  millions,  than 
the  value  of  all  the  shipping  belonging  to  the  civilized 
world. 

It  is  larger,  by  nine  hundred  and  ninety-seven  mil- 
lions, than  the  annual  combined  charities  of  Europe  and 
America  for  preaching  the  Gospel  to  tlie  Heathen. 

Yes !   the  Commonwealth  of  Christian  Nations,  in- 

1  Jay's  War  and  Peace,  p.  13,  note;  and  "  True  Grandeur  of  Nations," 
ante,  p.  79. 


COMMONWEALTH    OF   NATIONS.  179 

eluding  our  own  country,  appropriates,  without  hesi- 
tation, as  a  matter  of  course,  upwards  of  a  thousand 
millions  of  dollars  annually  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
War  System,  and  vaunts  its  three  millions  of  dollars, 
laboriously  collected,  for  diffusing  the  light  of  tlie 
Gospel  in  foreign  lands !  With  untold  prodigality  of 
cost,  it  perpetuates  the  worst  Heathenism  of  War, 
while,  by  charities  insignificant  in  comparison,  it  doles 
to  the  Heathen  a  message  of  Peace.  At  home  it  breeds 
and  fattens  a  cloud  of  eagles  and  vultures,  trained  to 
swoop  upon  the  land  ;  to  all  tlie  Gentiles  across  the 
sea  it  dismisses  a  solitary  dove. 

Still  further :  every  ship-of-war  that  floats  costs  more 
than  a  well-endowed  college. 

Every  sloop-of-war  that  floats  costs  more  than  the 
largest  public  library  in  our  country. 

It  is  sometimes  said,  by  persons  yet  in  leading-strings 
of  inherited  prejudice,  and  with  little  appreciation  of  the 
true  safety  afforded  by  the  principles  of  Peace,  that  all 
these  comprehensive  preparations  are  needed  for  pro- 
tection against  enemies  from  abroad.  Wishing  to  pre- 
sent the  cause  without  any  superfluous  question  on 
what  are  called,  apologetically,  "  defensive  wars,"  let  me 
say,  in  reply,  —  and  here  all  can  unite,  —  that,  if  these 
preparations  are  needed  at  any  time,  according  to  the 
aggressive  martial  interpretation  of  self-defence  in  its 
exigencies,  there  is  much  reason  to  believe  it  is  be- 
cause the  unchristian  spirit  in  which  they  have  their 
birth,  lowering  and  scowling  in  the  very  names  of  the 
ships,  provokes  the  danger,  —  as  the  presence  of  a  bravo 
might  challenge  the  attack  he  was  hired  to  resist. 

Frederick  of  Prussia,  sometimes  called  the  Great,  in 


180  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

a  singular  spirit  of  mingled  openness  and  effrontery,  de- 
liberately left  on  record,  most  instructively  prominent 
among  the  real  reasons  for  liis  war  upon  Maria  There- 
sa, that  he  had  troojjs  always  ready  to  aet.  Thus  did 
these  Pre2xirations  unhappily  become,  as  they  too  often 
show  themselves,  incentives  to  War.  Lord  Brougham 
justly  dwells  on  this  confession  as  a  lesson  of  history. 
Human  nature,  as  manifest  in  the  conduct  of  individ- 
uals or  communities,  has  its  lesson  also.  The  fatal 
War  Spirit  is  born  of  these  preparations,  out  of  which 
it  springs  full-armed.  Here  also  is  its  great  aliment; 
here  are  the  seeds  of  the  very  evil  it  is  sometimes 
vainly  supposed  to  avert.  Let  it  never  be  forgotten, 
let  it  be  treasured  as  a  solemn  warning,  that,  by  the 
confession  of  Frederick  himself,  it  was  the  possession 
of  troops  always  ready  to  act  that  helped  to  inspire  that 
succession  of  bloody  wars,  which,  first  pouncing  upon 
Silesia,  mingled  at  last  with  the  strifes  of  England  and 
France,  even  in  distant  colonies  across  the  Atlantic, 
ranging  the  savages  of  the  forest  under  hostile  Euro- 
pean banners.-' 

But  I  deny  that  these  preparations  are  needed  for  j  ust 
self-defence.  It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  sup- 
pose any  such  occasion  in  the  Fraternity  of  Christian 
Nations,  if  War  ceases  to  he  an  established  Arbitrament, 

^  "  Que  Ton  joigne  a  ces  considdrations  des  troupes  lovjours  preies  d'agir, 
mon  dpargne  bien  remplie,  et  la  vivacity  de  mon  caractere:  c'dtaient  les 
raisoiis  que  J'avais  de  faire  la  guerre  a  5Iarie-Thdr6sc,  reine  de  Boheme 
et  d'Hongrie."  These  are  the  very  words  of  Frederick,  deliberately  writ- 
ten in  his  own  account  of  the  war.  Voltaire,  on  revising  the  work,  dishon- 
e.stly  struck  out  this  important  confession,  but  preserved  a  copy,  which 
afterwards  appeared  in  his  own  ^Memoirs.  Lord  Brougham,  in  his  sketch  of 
Voltaire,  says  that  "  the  passage  thus  erased  and  thus  presen'cd  is  extremely 
curious,  and  for  honesty  or  impudence  has  no  parallel  in  the  history  of 
warriors."  —  Brougham,  Lives  of  Men  of  Letters,  Voltaii-e,  p.  59. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  181 

or  if  any  state  is  so  truly  great  as  to  decline  its  umpir- 
age. There  is  no  such  occasion  among  the  towns,  coun- 
ties, or  states  of  our  extended  country  ;  nor  is  there  any 
such  occasion  among  the  counties  of  Great  Britain,  or 
among  the  provinces  of  France;  but  the  same  good- 
will, the  same  fellowship,  and  the  same  ties  of  commerce, 
which  unite  towns,  counties,  states,  and  provinces,  are 
fast  drawing  the  whole  Commonwealth  of  Nations  in- 
to similar  communion.  France  and  England,  so  long 
regarded  as  natural  enemies,  are  now  better  known  to 
each  other  than  only  a  short  time  ago  were  different 
provinces  of  the  former  kingdom.  And  there  is  now 
a  closer  intimacy  in  business  and  social  intercourse  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  our  OAvn  country  than  there 
was  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  between  Massa- 
chusetts and  Virginia. 

Admitting  that  an  enemy  might  approach  our  shores 
for  piracy  or  plunder  or  conquest,  who  can  doubt  that 
the  surest  protection  would  be  found,  not  in  the 
waste  of  long-accumulating  preparation,  not  in  idle 
fortresses  along  the  coast,  built  at  a  cost  far  surpassing 
all  our  lighthouses  and  all  our  colleges,  but  in  the  intel- 
ligence, union,  and  pacific  repose  of  good  men,  with  the 
unbounded  resources  derived  from  uninterrupted  devo- 
tion to  productive  industry  ?  I  think  it  may  be  assumed 
as  beyond  question,  according  to  the  testimony  of  polit- 
ical economy,  that  the  people  who  spend  most  sparingly 
in  Preparations  for  War,  all  otlier  things  being  equal,  must 
possess  the  most  enduring  means  of  actual  self-defence 
at  home,  on  their  own  soil,  before  their  own  hearths, 
if  any  such  melancholy  alternative  should  occur.  Con- 
sider the  prodigious  sums,  exceeding  in  all  two  thousand 


182  WAK   SYSTEM  OF  THE 

millions  of  dollars,  squandered  by  the  United  States, 
since  the  adoption  of  the  National  Constitution,  for  the 
sake  of  the  War  System.  Had  such  means  been  de- 
voted to  railroads  and  canals,  schools  and  colleges,  the 
country  would  possess,  at  the  present  moment,  an  accu- 
mulated material  power  grander  far  than  any  it  now 
boasts.  There  is  another  power,  of  more  unfailing  tem- 
per, which  would  not  be  wanting.  Overflowing  with 
intelligence,  with  charity,  with  civilization,  with  all  that 
constitutes  a  generous  state,  ours  would  be  jjeaceful  tri- 
umphs, transcending  all  yet  achieved,  and  surrounding 
the  land  with  an  invincible  self-defensive  might,  while 
the  unfading  brightness  of  a  new  era  made  the  glory 
of  War  impossible.  Well  does  the  poet  say  with  per- 
suasive truth, — 

"  What  constitutes  a  State? 
Not  high-raised  battlement  or  labored  mound, 

Thick  wall  or  moated  gate ; 
Not  cities  proud  with  spires  and  turrets  crowned; 

Not  bays  and  broad-armed  ports. 
Where,  laughing  at  the  storm,  rich  navies  ride: 

No:  Men,  high-minded  Men."  i 

Such  men  will  possess  a  Christian  greatness,  rendering 
them  unable  to  do  an  injury;  while  their  character,  in- 
stinct with  all  the  guardian  virtues,  must  render  their 
neighbors  unable  to  do  an  injury  to  them. 

The  injunction,  "  In  time  of  Peace  prepare  for  War," 
is  of  Heathen  origin.^  As  a  rule  of  international  con- 
duct, it  is  very  questionable  in  a  Christian  age,  being 
vindicated  on  two  grounds  only :  first,  by  assuming 
that  the  Arbitrament  of  War  is  the  proper  tribunal  for 
international  controversies,  and  therefore  the  War  Sys- 

1  Sir  William  Jones,  Oile  in  Imitation  of  AIcwus-  Works,  Vol.  X.  p.  389. 

2  True  Grandeur  of  Nations,  ante,  pp.  97,  seqq. 


COMMONWEALTH    OF    NATIONS.  183 

tern  is  to  be  maintained  and  strengthened,  as  the  es- 
sential means  of  international  justice ;  or,  secondly,  by 
assuming  the  rejected  dogma  of  an  Atheist  philoso- 
pher, Hobbes,  that  War  is  the  natural  state  of  man. 
Wliatever  may  be  the  infirmities  of  our  passions,  it  is 
plain  that  the  natural  state  of  man,  assuring  the  high- 
est happiness,  and  to  which  he  tends  by  an  irresistible 
heavenly  attraction,  is  Peace.  This  is  true  of  commu- 
nities and  nations,  as  of  individuals.  The  proper  rule 
is.  In  time  of  Peace  cultivate  the  arts  of  Peace.  So 
doing,  you  will  render  the  country  truly  strong  and  tru- 
ly great :  not  by  arousing  the  passions  of  War,  not  by 
nursing  men  to  the  business  of  blood,  not  by  convert- 
ing the  land  into  a  flaming  arsenal,  a  magazine  of  gun- 
powder, or  an  "  infernal  machine,"  just  ready  to  explode, 
but  by  dedicating  its  whole  energies  to  productive  and 
beneficent  works. 

The  incongruity  of  this  system  may  be  illustrated  by 
an  example.  Look  into  the  life  of  that  illustrious  phi- 
losopher, John  Locke,  and  you  will  find,  that,  in  the 
journal  of  his  tour  through  Prance,  describing  the  arches 
of  the  amphitheatre  at  Nismes,  he  says,  "  In  all  those 
arches,  to  sujiport  the  walls  over  the  passage  where  you 
go  round,  there  is  a  stone  laid,  about  twenty  inches  or 
two  feet  square,  and  about  six  times  the  length  of  my 
stvord,  which  ivas  near  about  a  philosojjhical  yard  long."  ^ 
Who  is  not  struck  with  the  unseemly  incongruity  of 
the  exhibition,  as  he  sees  the  author  of  the  "  Essay  con- 
cerning Human  Understanding  "  travelling  with  a  sword 
by  his  side  ?  But  here  the  philosopher  only  followed 
the  barbarous  custom  of  his  time.      Individuals  then 

1  King's  Life  of  Locke, Vol.  I.  p.  99. 


184  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

lived  in  the  same  relations  towards  each  other  which 
now  characterize  nations.  The  War  System  had  not  yet 
entirely  retreated  from  Municipal  Law  and  Custom,  to 
find  its  last  citadel  and  temple  in  the  Law  and  Custom 
of  Nations.  Do  not  forget,  that,  at  the  present  moment, 
our  own  country,  the  great  author,  among  the  nations, 
of  a  new  Essay  concerning  Human  Understanding,  not 
only  travels  with  a  sword  by  the  side,  like  John  Locke, 
but  lives  encased  in  complete  armor,  burdensome  to 
limbs  and  costly  to  treasury. 

Condemning  the  War  System  as  barbarous  and  most 
wasteful,  the  token  and  relic  of  a  society  alien  to  Chris- 
tian civilization,  we  except  the  Na\y,  so  far  as  necessary 
in  arrest  of  pirates,  of  traffickers  in  human  flesh,  and 
generally  in  preserving  the  police  of  the  sea.  But  it  is 
difficult  for  the  unprejudiced  mind  to  regard  the  array 
of  fortifications  and  of  standing  armies  otherwise  than 
obnoxious  to  the  condemnation  aroused  by  the  War 
System.  Fortifications  are  instruments,  and  standing 
armies  are  hired  champions,  in  the  great  Duel  of  Na- 
tions. 

Here  I  quit  this  part  of  the  subject.  Sufficient  has 
been  said  to  expose  the  War  System  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Nations.  It  stands  before  us,  a  colossal  im- 
age of  International  Justice,  with  the  sword,  hut  ivithout 
the  scales,  —  like  a  hideous  Mexican  idol,  besmeared  with 
human  blood,  and  surrounded  by  the  sickening  stench 
of  human  sacrifice.  But  this  image,  which  seems  to 
span  the  continents,  Avliile  it  rears  aloft  its  flashing 
form  of  brass  and  gold,  hiding  far  in  tlie  clouds  "  the 
round  and  top  of  sovereignty,"  can  be  laid  low ;  for  its 
feet  are  clay. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  185 

II. 

I  COME  now  to  the  means  by  which  the  War  System 
can  be  overthrown.  Here  I  shall  unfold  the  tendencies 
and  examples  of  nations,  and  the  sacred  efforts  of  indi- 
viduals, constituting  the  Peace  Movement,  now  ready 
to  triumph,  —  with  practical  suggestions  on  our  duties  to 
this  cause,  and  a  concluding  glance  at  the  barbarism  of 
Military  Glory.  In  this  review  I  cannot  avoid  details 
incident  to  a  fruitfulness  of  topics ;  but  I  shall  try  to 
introduce  nothing  not  bearing  directly  on  the  subject. 

Civilization  now  \mthes  in  travail  and  torment,  and 
asks  for  liberation  from  oppressive  sway.  Like  the 
slave  under  a  weary  weight  of  chains,  it  raises  its  ex- 
hausted arms,  and  pleads  for  the  angel  Deliverer.  And, 
lo  !  the  beneficent  angel  comes,  —  not  like  the  Grecian 
God  of  Day,  with  vengeful  arrows  to  slay  the  destruc- 
tive Python,  —  not  like  the  Archangel  Michael,  with  po- 
tent spear  to  transfix  Satan,  —  but  with  words  of  gen- 
tleness and  cheer,  saying  to  all  nations,  and  to  all  chil- 
dren of  men,  "  Ye  are  all  brothers,  of  one  flesh,  07ie  fold, 
one  shepherd,  children  of  one  Father,  heirs  to  one  happi- 
ness. By  your  own  energies,  through  united  fraternal 
endeavor,  will  the  tyranny  of  War  be  overthrown,  and 
its  Juggernaut  in  turn  be  crushed  to  earth." 

In  this  spirit,  and  with  this  encouragement,  we  must 
labor  for  that  grand  and  final  object,  watchword  of  all 
ages,  the  Unity  of  the  Human  Family.  Not  in  benev- 
olence, but  in  selfishness,  has  Unity  been  sought  in 
times  past,  —  not  to  promote  the  happiness  of  all,  but  to 
establish  the  dominion  of  one.  It  was  the  mad  lust  of 
power  which  carried  Alexander  from  conquest  to  con- 
quest, till  he  boasted  that  the  whole  world  was  one 


186  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

empire,  with  the  Macedonian  phalanx  as  citadel.  The 
same  passion  animated  Eome,  till,  at  last,  while  Christ 
lay  in  a  manger,  this  single  city  swayed  a  broader  em- 
pire than  that  of  Alexander.  The  Gospel,  in  its  sim- 
ple narrative,  says,  "  And  it  came  to  pass  in  those  days 
that  there  went  out  a  decree  from  Caesar  Augustus  that 
all  the  world  should  be  taxed."  History  recalls  the  ex- 
ile of  Ovid,  who,  falHng  under  the  displeasure  of  the 
same  emperor,  was  condemned  to  close  his  life  in  mel- 
ancholy longings  for  Rome,  far  away  in  Pontus,  on  the 
Euxine  Sea.  With  singular  significance,  these  two  con- 
temporaneous incidents  reveal  the  universality  of  Eo- 
nian  dominion,  stretching  from  Britain  to  Parthia.  The 
mighty  empire  crumbled,  to  be  reconstructed  for  a  brief 
moment,  in  part  by  Charlemagne,  in  part  by  Tamerlane. 
In  our  own  age,  Xapoleon  made  a  last  effort  for  Unity 
founded  on  Force.  And  now,  from  his  utterances  at  St. 
Helena,  the  expressed  wisdom  of  his  unparalleled  expe- 
rience, comes  the  remarkable  confession,  worthy  of  con- 
stant memory :  "  The  more  I  study  the  M'orld,  the  more 
am  I  convinced  of  the  inability  of  brute  force  to  cre- 
ate anything  durable."  From  the  sepulchre  of  Napole- 
on, now  sleeping  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  surrounded 
by  the  trophies  of  battle,  nay,  more,  from  the  sepulchres 
of  all  these  departed  empires,  may  be  heard  the  words, 
"  They  that  take  the  sword  shall  perish  by  the  sword." 

Unity  is  the  longing  and  tendency  of  Humanity :  not 
the  enforced  Unity  of  military  power;  not  the  Unity 
of  miglit  triumphant  over  right ;  not  the  Unity  of  In- 
equality ;  not  the  Unity  which  occupied  the  soul  of 
Dante,  when,  in  liis  treatise  De  Monarchia,  the  earliest 
political  work  of  modern  times,  he  strove  to  show  that 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  187 

all  the  world  belonged  to  a  single  ruler,  tlie  successor 
of  the  Pionian  Emperor :  not  these ;  but  the  voluntary 
Unity  of  nations  in  fraternal  labor ;  the  Unity  prom- 
ised, when  it  was  said,  "  There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek, 
there  is  neither  bond  nor  free,  there  is  neither  male  nor 
female,  for  ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus  " ;  the  Unity 
which  has  filled  the  delighted  vision  of  good  men, 
prophets,  sages,  and  poets,  in  times  past ;  the  Unity 
which,  in  our  own  age,  prompted  Beranger,  the  incom- 
parable lyi'ic  of  France,  in  an  immortal  ode,  to  salute 
the  Holy  Alliance  of  the  Peoples,^  summoning  them  in 
all  lands,  and  by  whatever  names  they  may  be  called, 
French,  English,  Belgian,  German,  Eussian,  to  give  each 
other  the  hand,  that  the  useless  thunderbolts  of  War 
may  all  be  quenched,  and  Peace  sow  the  earth  with 
gold,  with  flowers,  and  with  corn ;  the  Unity  which 
prompted  an  early  American  diplomatist  and  poet  to 
anticipate  the  time  when  nations  shall  meet  in  Con- 
gress, — 

"  To  give  each  realm  its  limit  and  its  laws, 
Bid  the  last  breath  of  dire  contention  cease, 
And  bind  all  regions  in  the  leagues  of  Peace; 
Bid  one  great  empire,  with  extensive  sway, 
Spread  with  the  sun,  and  bound  the  walks  of  day, 
One  centred  system,  one  all-ruling  soul. 
Live  through  the  parts,  and  regulate  the  whole"; 2 

the  Unity  which  inspired  our  contemporary  British  poet 
of  exquisite  genius,  Alfred  Tennyson,  to  hail  the  cer- 
tain day,  — 

"  When  the  war-dram  throb  no  longer,  and  the  battle-flags  be  furled, 
In  the  Parliament  of  Man,  the  Federation  of  the  World."  3 

^  "  Peuples,  formez  une  sainte  alliance, 
Et  donnez-vous  la  main." 

La  Sninte  Alliance  des  Peuples. 

2  Barlow,  Vision  of  Columbus,  Book  IX.  432  -  438. 

3  Lockslev  Hall. 


188  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

Such  is  Unity  in  the  bond  of  Peace.  The  common 
good  and  mutual  consent  are  its  enduring  base,  Justice 
and  Love  its  animating  soul.  These  alone  can  give  per- 
manence to  combinations  of  men,  whether  in  states  or 
confederacies.  Here  is  the  vital  elixir  of  nations,  the 
true  philosopher's  stone  of  divine  efficacy  to  enrich  the 
civilization  of  mankind.  So  far  as  these  are  neglected 
or  forgotten,  will  the  people,  though  under  one  apparent 
head,  fail  to  be  really  united.  So  far  as  these  are  re- 
garded, will  the  people,  within  the  sphere  of  their  in- 
fluence, constitute  one  body,  and  be  inspired  by  one 
spirit.  And  just  in  proportion  as  tlieso  find  recogni- 
tion from  individuals  and  from  nations  will  War  be 
impossible. 

Not  in  vision,  nor  in  promise  only,  is  this  Unity  dis- 
cerned. Voluntary  associations,  confederacies,  leagues, 
coalitions,  and  congresses  of  nations,  though  fugitive  and 
limited  in  influence,  all  attest  the  unsatisfied  desires  of 
men  solicitous  for  union,  while  they  foreshadow  the 
means  by  which  it  may  be  permanently  accomplished. 
Of  these  I  will  enumerate  a  few.  1.  The  Amjjhictyonic 
Council,  embracing  at  first  twelve,  and  finally  thirty- 
one  communities,  was  established  about  the  year  1100 
before  Christ.  Each  sent  two  deputies,  and  had  two 
votes  in  the  Council,  which  was  empowered  to  restrain 
the  violence  of  hostility  among  the  associates.  2.  Next 
comes  the  Achccan  League,  founded  at  a  very  early  pe- 
riod, and  renewed  in  the  year  281  before  Christ.  Each 
member  was  independent,  and  yet  all  together  consti- 
tuted one  inseparable  body.  So  great  was  the  fame  of 
their  justice  and  probity,  that  the  Greek  cities  of  Italy 
were  glad  to  invite  their  peaceful  arbitration.     3.  Pass- 


COMMONWEALTH    OF   NATIONS.  189 

ing  over  other  confederacies  of  Antiquity,  I  mention 
next  tlie  Hanseatic  League,  begun  in  the  twelfth  century, 
completed  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth,  and  compris- 
ing at  one  time  no  less  than  eighty-five  cities.  A  sys- 
tem of  International  Law  was  adopted  in  their  general 
assemblies,  and  also  courts  of  arhitration,  to  determine 
controversies  amoiig  the  cities.  The  decrees  of  these 
courts  were  enforced  by  placing  the  condemned  city 
under  the  ban,  a  sentence  equivalent  to  excommunica- 
tion. 4.  At  a  later  period,  other  cities  and  nobles  of 
Germany  entered  into  alliance  and  association  for  mu- 
tual protection,  under  various  names,  as  the  League  of 
the  Rhine,  and  the  League  of  Stiabia.  5.  To  these  I  add 
the  combination  of  Armed  Neutrality  in  1780,  uniting, 
in  declared  support  of  certain  principles,  a  large  cluster 
of  nations,  —  Russia,  France,  Spain,  Holland,  Sweden, 
Denmark,  Prussia,  and  the  United  States.  6.  And  still 
further,  I  refer  to  Congresses  at  Westphalia,  Utrecht, 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  Vienna,  after  the  wasteful  strug- 
gles of  War,  to  arrange  terms  of  Peace  and  to  arbitrate 
between  nations. 

These  examples,  belonging  to  the  Past,  reveal  tenden- 
cies and  capacities.  Other  instances,  having  the  effect 
of  living  authority,  show  practically  how  the  War  Sys- 
tem may  be  set  aside.  There  is,  first,  the  Swiss  Piepub- 
lic,  or  Helvetic  Union,  which,  beginning  so  long  ago  as 
1308,  has  preserved  Peace  among  its  members  during 
the  greater  part  of  five  centuries.  Speaking  of  this 
Union,  Vattel  said,  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
"  The  Swiss  have  had  the  precaution,  in  all  their  alli- 
ances among  themselves,  and  even  in  those  they  have 
contracted  with  the  neighboring  powers,  to  agree  hefore- 
hand  on  the  manner  in  v:hich  their  disjmtes  ivere  to  be 


190  WAR   SYSTEM    OF  THE 

suhmitted  to  arbitrators,  in  case  they  could  not  adjust 
them  in  an  amicable  manner."  And  this  publicist  pro- 
ceeds to  testify  that  "  this  wise  precaution  has  not  a  lit- 
tle contributed  to  maintain  the  Helvetic  Eepublic  in 
that  flourishing  condition  which  secures  its  liberty,  and 
renders  it  respectable  throughout  Europe."  ^  Since  these 
words  were  written,  there  have  been  many  changes  in 
the  Swiss  Constitution ;  but  its  present  Federal  System, 
established  on  the  downfall  of  Napoleon,  confirmed  in 
1830,  and  now  embracing  twenty-five  different  States, 
provides  that  differences  among  the  States  shall  be  re- 
ferred to  "special  arbitration."  This  is  an  instructive 
example.  But,  secondly,  our  own  happy  country  fur- 
nishes one  yet  more  so.  The  United  States  of  America 
are  a  National  Union  of  thirty  different  States,  —  each 
having  peculiar  interests,  —  in  pursuance  of  a  Consti- 
tution, established  in  1788,  which  not  only  provides  a 
high  tribunal  for  the  adjudication  of  controversies  be- 
tween the  States,  but  expressly  disarms  the  individual 
States,  declaring  that  "  no  State  shall,  without  the  consent 
of  Congress,  keep  troops  or  shijjs  of  ivar  in  time  of  peace, 
or  engage  in  war,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  siich 
imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  of  delay."  A  third 
example,  not  unlike  that  of  our  own  country,  is  the  Con- 
federation of  Germany,  composed  of  thirty-eight  sover- 
eignties, who,  by  reciprocal  stipulation  in  their  Act  of 
Union,  on  the  8th  of  June,  1815,  deprived  each  sovereign- 
ty of  the  riglit  of  ivar  with  its  confederates.  The  words 
of  this  stipulation,  which,  like  those  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  might  furnish  a  model  to  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Nations,  are  as  follows  :  "  The  Confederate 
States  likewise  engage  under  no  pretext  to  make  war  upon 

1  Law  of  Nations,  Book  II.  ch.  18,  ^  329. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  191 

one  another,  nor  to  imrsue  their  differences  hy  foree  of 
arms,  hut  to  submit  them  to  the  Diet.  The  latter  shall 
endeavor  to  mediate  between  the  parties  by  means  of  a 
commission.  Should  this  not  prove  successful,  and  a 
judicial  decision  become  necessary,  provision  shall  be 
made  therefor  through  a  well-organized  Court  of  Arbi- 
tration, to  which  the  litigants  shall  submit  themselves 
without  appeal."  ^ 

Such  are  authentic,  well-defined  examples.  This  is 
not  all.  It  is  in  the  order  of  Providence,  that  individu- 
als, families,  tribes,  and  nations  should  tend,  by  means 
of  association,  to  a  final  Unity.  A  law  of  mutual  at- 
traction, or  affinity,  first  exerting  its  influence  upon 
smaller  bodies,  draws  them  by  degrees  into  well-estab- 
lished fellowship,  and  then,  continuing  its  powder,  fuses 
the  larger  bodies  into  nations ;  and  nations  themselves, 
stirred  by  this  same  sleepless  energy,  are  now  moving 
towards  that  grand  system  of  combined  order  which 
will  complete  the  general  harmony  :  — 

"  Spiritus  intus  .ilit,  totamque  iiifusa  per  artus 
Mens  agitat  molera,  et  magno  se  corpora  miscet."  2 

History  bears  ample  testimony  to  the  potency  of  this 
attraction.  Modern  Europe,  in  its  early  periods,  was 
filled  with  petty  lordships,  or  communities  constituting 
so  many  distinct  units,  acknowledging  only  a  vague  na- 
tionality, and  maintaining,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the 
"  liberty  "  to  fight  with  each  other.  The  great  nations 
of  our  day  have  grown  and  matured  into  their  present 
form  by  the  gradual  absorption  of  these  political  bodies. 

1  Acte  pour  la  Constitution  F^d^rative  de  rAllemagne  du  8  Juin,  1815, 
Art.  XI.  par.  4  :  Archives  Diplomatiques,  Vol.  IV.  p.  15. 

2  ^neid,  Lib.  VI.  726.  727. 


192  WAK   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

Territories,  once  possessing  an  equivocal  and  turbulent 
independence,  feel  new  power  and  happiness  in  peace- 
ful association.  Spain,  composed  of  races  dissimilar  in 
origin,  religion,  and  government,  slowly  ascended  by  pro- 
gressive combinations  among  principalities  and  provin- 
ces, till  at  last,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  by  the  crown- 
ing union  of  Castile  and  Aragon,  tlie  whole  country 
with  its  various  sovereignties,  was  united  under  out 
common  rule.  Germany  once  consisted  of  more  than 
three  hundred  different  principalities,  each  with  the 
right  of  wwr.  These  slowly  coalesced,  forming  larger 
principalities  ;  till  at  last  the  whole  complex  aggregation 
of  states,  embracing  abbeys,  bishoprics,  archbishoprics, 
bailiwicks,  counties,  duchies,  electorates,  margraviates, 
and  free  imperial  cities,  was  gradually  resolved  into  the 
present  Confederation,  where  each  state  expressly  re- 
nounces the  right  of  war  with  its  associates.  France 
has  passed  through  similar  changes.  By  a  power  of 
assimilation,  in  no  nation  so  strongly  marked,  she  has 
absorbed  the  various  races  and  sovereignties  once  filling 
her  territory  with  violence  and  conflict,  and  has  con- 
verted them  all  to  herself.  The  Eoman  or  Iberian  of 
Provence,  the  indomitable  Celtic  race,  the  German  of 
Alsace,  have  all  become  Frenchmen,  —  while  the  various 
provinces,  once  inspired  by  such  hostile  passions,  Brit- 
tany and  Normandy,  Franche-Comte  and  Burgundy,  Gas- 
cony  and  Languedoc,  Provence  and  Dauphine/are  now 
blended  in  one  powerful,  united  nation.  Great  Britain, 
too,  shows  the  influence  of  the  same  law.  The  many 
liostile  principalities  of  England  were  first  merged  in 
the  Heptarchy ;  and  these  seven  kingdoms  became  one 
under  the  Saxon  Egbert.  Wales,  forcibly  attached  to 
England  under  Edward  the  First,  at  last  assimilated  with 


COMMONWEALTH    OF   NATIONS.  193 

her  conqueror ;  Ireland,  after  a  protracted  resistance,  was 
absorbed  under  Edward  the  Third,  and  at  a  later  day, 
after  a  series  of  bitter  struggles,  was  united,  I  do  not 
say  how  successfully,  under  the  Imperial  Parliament ; 
Scotland  was  connected  with  England  by  the  accession 
of  James  the  First  to  the  throne  of  the  Tudors,  and 
these  two  countries,  which  had  so  often  encountered  in 
battle,  were  joined  together  under  Queen  Anne,  by  an 
act  of  peaceful  legislation. 

Thus  has  the  tendency  to  Unity  predominated  over 
independent  sovereignties  and  states,  slowly  conducting 
the  constant  process  of  crystallization.  This  cannot  be 
arrested.  The  next  stage  must  be  the  peaceful  associa- 
tion of  the  Christian  nations.  In  this  anticipation  we 
but  follow  analogies  of  the  material  creation,  as  seen 
in  the  light  of  chemical  or  geological  science.  Every- 
where Nature  is  busy  with  combinations,  exerting  an 
occult  incalculable  power,  drawing  elements  into  new 
relations  of  harmony,  uniting  molecule  with  molecule, 
atom  with  atom,  and,  by  progressive  change,  in  the 
lapse  of  time,  producing  new  structural  arrangements. 
Look  still  closer,  and  the  analogy  continues.  At  first 
we  detect  tlie  operation  of  cohesion,  rudely  acting  upon 
particles  near  together,  —  then  subtler  influences,  slowly 
imparting  regularity  of  form,  —  while  heat,  electricity, 
and  potent  chemical  affinities  conspire  in  the  work.  As 
yet  there  is  only  an  incomplete  body.  Light  now  ex- 
erts its  mysterious  powers,  and  all  assumes  an  organized 
form.  So  it  is  with  mankind.  First  appears  tlie  rude 
cohesion  of  early  ages,  acting  only  upon  individuals 
near  together.  Slowly  the  work  proceeds.  But  time 
and  space,  the  great  obstructions,  if  not  annihilated, 
are  now  subdued,  giving  free  scope   to  the  powerful 


194  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

affinities  of  civilization.  At  last,  light,  thrice  holy 
light,  in  whose  glad  beams  are  knowledge,  justice,  and 
beneiicence,  with  empyrean  sway  will  combine  those 
separate  and  distracted  elements  into  one  organized 
system. 

Thus  much  for  examples  and  tendencies.  In  har- 
mony with  these  are  efforts  of  individuals,  extending 
tlirough  ages,  and  strengthening  with  time,  till  now  at 
last  they  swell  into  a  voice  that  must  be  heard.  A  rapid 
glance  will  show  the  growth  of  the  cause  we  have  met 
to  welcome.  Far  off  in  the  writings  of  the  early  Fathers 
we  learn  the  duty  and  importance  of  Universal  Peace. 
Here  I  might  accumulate  texts,  each  an  authority,  while 
you  listened  to  Justin  Martyr,  Irenreus,  Tertullian, 
Origen,  Augustine,  Aquinas.  How  beautiful  it  appears 
in  the  teachings  of  St.  Augustine  !  How  comprehen- 
sive the  rules  of  Aquinas,  who  spoke  with  the  authority 
of  Philosophy  and  the  Church,  wdien  he  said,  in  phrase 
worthy  of  constant  repetition,  that  the  perfection  of  joy 
is  Peace !  ^  But  the  rude  hoof  of  War  trampled  down 
these  sparks  of  generous  truth,  destined  to  llame  forth 
at  a  later  day.  In  the  fifteenth  century.  The  good  Man 
of  Peace  was  described  in  tliat  work  of  unexampled  cir- 
culation, translated  into  all  modern  tongues,  and  repub- 
lished more  than  a  thousand  times,  "  The  Imitation  of 
Christ,"  by  Tliomas-a-Kempis.^  A  little  later  the  cause 
found  important  support  from  the  pen  of  a  great  scholar, 
the  gentle  and  learned  Erasmus.  At  last  it  obtained  a 
specious  advocacy  from  the  throne.     Henry  the  Fourth, 

1  "  Perfectio  gniuKi  est  pnx."  —  Aquinas,  Sunima  Thcologica,  Prima  So- 
cunflae,  Quscst.  LXX.,  Art.  III.  Ooiicl. 

2  De  Imitatione  Christi,  Lib.  II.  cap.  3. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  195 

of  France,  with  the  cooperation  of  his  eminent  minister, 
Sully,  conceived  the  beautiful  scheme  of  blending  the 
Christian  nations  in  one  confederacy,  with  a  high  tribu- 
nal for  the  decision  of  controversies  between  them,  and 
had  drawn  into  his  plan  Queen  Elizabeth,  of  England. 
All  was  arrested  by  the  dagger  of  Eavaillac.  This  gay 
and  gallant  monarch  was  little  penetrated  by  the  divine 
sentiment  of  Peace  ;  for  at  his  death  he  was  gathering 
materials  for  fresh  War ;  and  it  is  too  evident  that  the 
scheme  of  a  European  Congress  was  prompted  less  by 
comprehensive  humanity  than  by  a  selfish  ambition  to 
humble  the  House  of  Austria.  Even  with  this  draw- 
back it  did  great  good,  by  holding  aloft  before  Christen- 
dom the  exalted  idea  of  a  tribunal  for  the  Common- 
wealth of  Nations. 

Universal  Peace  was  not  to  receive  thus  early  the 
countenance  of  Government.  Meanwhile  private  efforts 
began  to  multiply.  Grotius,  in  his  wonderful  work  on 
"  The  Eights  of  War  and  Peace,"  while  lavishing  learning 
and  genius  on  the  Arbitrament  of  War,  bears  testimony 
in  favor  of  a  more  rational  tribunal.  His  virtuous  na- 
ture, wishing  to  save  mankind  from  the  scourge  of  War, 
foreshadowed  an  Amphictyonic  Council.  "  It  would 
be  useful,  and  in  some  sort  necessary,"  he  says,  —  in 
language  which,  if  carried  out  practically,  would  sweep 
away  the  War  System  and  all  the  Laws  of  War,  —  "  to 
have  Congresses  of  the  Christian  Powers,  where  differ- 
ences might  be  determined  by  the  judgment  of  those 
not  interested  in  them,  and  means  found  to  constrain 
parties  into  acceptance  of  peace  on  just  conditions."  ^ 
To  the  discredit  of  his  age,  these  moderate  words,  so 
much  in  harmony  with  his  other  effort  for  the  union 

1  De  Jure  Belli  ac  Pacis,  Lib.  IL  cap.  23,  §  8- 


196  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

of  Christian  sects,  were  derided,  and  the  eminent  ex- 
pounder was  denounced  as  rash,  visionary,  and  imprac- 
ticable. The  sentiment  in  which  they  had  their  origin 
fovmd  other  forms  of  utterance.  Before  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  Nicole,  the  friend  of  Pascal,  be- 
longing to  the  fellowship  of  Port-Royal,  and  one  of  the 
highest  names  in  the  Church  of  France,  gave  to  the 
world  a  brief  "  Treatise  on  the  Means  of  preserving  Peace 
among  Men,"  ^  which  Voltaire,  with  exaggerated  praise, 
terms  "  a  masterpiece,  to  which  notliing  equal  has  been 
left  to  us  by  Antiquity."  Next  appeared  a  little  book, 
which  is  now  a  bibiographical  curiosity,  entitled  "The 
New  Cineas,"^  —  after  the  pacific  adviser  of  Pyi-rhus, 
the  warrior  king  of  Epirus,  —  where  the  humane  author 
counsels  sovereigns  to  govern  in  Peace,  submitting  their 
differences  to  an  established  tribunal.  In  Germany,  at 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  as  we  learn  from 
Leibnitz,  who  mentions  the  preceding  authority  also,  a 
retired  general,  who  had  commanded  armies,  the  Land- 
grave Ernest  of  Hesse  Ehinfels,  in  a  work  entitled  "  The 
Discreet  Catholic,"  suggested  a  plan  for  Pei'petual  Peace 
by  means  of  a  tribunal  established  by  associate  sover- 
eigns.^ England  testified  also  by  William  Penn,  who 
adopted  and  enforced  what  he  called  the  "great  design" 

1  Trait(5  des  Moyens  de  conserver  la  Paix  avec  les  Hommes:  Essais  de 
Jlorale,  Tom.  I.  pp.  192-318.  This  little  treatise  has  been  printed  in  a 
recent  edition  of  the  Pensees  of  Pascal.  Notwithstanding  tliis  great  com- 
pany, and  the  praise  of  Voltaire  in  his  Kcnvams  du  Sicde  de  Louis  XIV., 
the  reader  of  our  day  will  be  disappointed.  See  Hallani,  Introduction  to 
the  Literature  of  Europe,  Part  IV.  ch.  4,  Vol.  III.  p.  393. 

2  Le  Nouveau  Cj'nde,  ou  Discours  des  Occasions  et  Moyens  d'establir 
une  Paix  g(5n(?rale  et  la  Liberty  du  Commerce  par  tout  le  Monde:  Paris, 
1623.     A  cop3%  found  in  one  of  the  stalls  of  Paris,  is  now  before  nie. 

8  Leibnitz,  Observations  sur  le  Projet  d'une  Paix"Perp(-tuelle  de  I'Abb^ 
de  S.  Pierre:  Opera  (ed.  Dutens),  Tom.  V.  i)p.  60,  57 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  197 

of  Henry  the  Fourth..  In  a  work  entitled  "An  Essay 
towards  the  Present  and  Future  Peace  of  Europe,"  the 
enlightened  Quaker  proposed  a  Diet,  or  Sovereign  As- 
sembly, into  which  the  princes  of  Europe  should  enter, 
as  men  enter  into  society,  for  the  love  of  peace  and  order, 
—  that  its  object  should  be  justice,  and  that  all  differ- 
ences not  terminated  by  embassies  should  be  brought 
before  this  tribunal,  whose  judgment  should  be  so  far 
binding,  that,  in  the  event  of  contumacy,  it  should  be 
enforced  by  the  united  powers.^  Thus,  by  writings,  as 
also  by  illustrious  example  in  Pennsylvania,  did  Penn 
show  liimseK  the  friend  of  Peace. 

These  were  soon  followed  in  France  by  the  untiring 
labors  of  the  good  Abbe  Saint-Pierre,  —  the  most  de- 
voted among  the  apostles  of  Peace,  and  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  eloquent  and  eccentric  Bernardin  de 
Saint-Pierre,  author  of  "  Paul  and  Virginia,"  who,  at 
a  later  day,  beautifully  painted  the  true  Fraternity  of 
Nations.^  Of  a  genius  less  artistic  and  literary,  the 
Abbe  consecrated  a  whole  life,  crowned  with  venerable 
years,  to  the  improvement  of  mankind.  There  was  no 
humane  cause  he  did  not  espouse :  now  it  was  the  poor ; 
now  it  was  education ;  and  now  it  was  to  exhibit  the 
grandeur  and  sacredness  of  human  nature ;  but  he  was 
especially  filled  with  the  idea  of  Universal  Peace,  and 
the  importance  of  teaching  nations,  not  less  than  indi- 
viduals, the  duty  of  doing  as  they  would  be  done  by. 
This  was  his  passion,  and  it  was  elaborately  presented 
in  a  work  of  three  volumes,  entitled  "The  Project  of  Per- 

1  Clarkson,  Life  of  Williiim  Penn,  Ch.  YL  Vol.  IL  pp.  82-85. 

2  Harmonies  de  la  Nature :  ffiuvres,  Tom.  X.  p.  138.  Voeux  d'un  Soli- 
taire: Ibid.,  Tom.  XI.  p.  168. 


198  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

petual  Peace,"  ^  where  he  proposes  a  Diet  or  Congress  of 
Sovereigns,  for  the  adjudication  of  international  contro- 
versies without  resort  to  War.  Throughout  his  volu- 
minous writings  he  constantly  returns  to  this  project, 
which  was  a  perpetual  vision,  and  records  his  regret 
that  Newton  and  Descartes  had  not  devoted  their  ex- 
alted genius  to  the  study  and  exposition  of  the  laws 
determining  the  weKare  of  men  and  nations,  believing 
that  they  might  have  succeeded  in  organizing  Peace. 
He  dwells  often  on  the  beauty  of  Christian  precepts 
in  government,  and  the  true  glory  of  beneficence,  while 
he  exposes  the  vanity  of  military  renown,  and  does  not 
hesitate  to  question  that  false  glory  which  j^rocured  for 
Louis  the  Fourteenth  the  undeserved  title  of  Great, 
echoed  by  flattering  courtiers  and  a  barbarous  Avorld. 
The  French  language  owes  to  him  tlie  word  Bienfai- 
sance;  and  D'Alembert  said  "it  was  right  he  should 
have  invented  the  word  who  practised  so  largely  the 
virtue  it  expresses."^ 

Though  thus  of  benevolence  all  compact,  Saint-Pierre 
was  not  the  favorite  of  his  age.  A  profligate  minister, 
Cardinal  Dubois,  ecclesiastical  companion  of  a  vicious 
resent  in  the  worst  excesses,  condemned  his  efforts  in  a 
phrase  of  satire,  as  "the  dreams  of  a  good  man."  The 
pen  of  La  Bruyere  wantoned  in  a  petty  portrait  of  per- 

1  Le  Projet  de  Paix  Perpetuelle.  —  A  collection  of  the  works  of  Saint- 
Pierre,  in  fourteen  volumes,  entitled  (Euvres  de  Politique,  appeared  at  Am- 
sterdam in  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  But  this  collection  is  not  com- 
plete; I  have  .several  other  volumes.  Brunei  introduces  him  into  his 
Bibliographical  Pantheon  among  "Modern  Reformers";  but  the  space 
allowed  is  very  scanty  by  the  side  of  his  namesake.  .  His  works  are  sjonpa- 
theticully  described  and  analyzed  in  a  volume  published  since  this  Address, 
entitled  DAbbe  de  Saint-Pierre,  sa  Vie  et  ses  (Euvres,  par  G.  de  Molinari. 

2  Eloge  de  Saint-Pierre:  (Euvres,  Tom.  XI.  p.  113.  See,  also,  Bescherelle, 
Dictionnaire  National,  under  Bienfaisance. 


COMMONWEALTH    OF  NATIONS.  199 

sonal  peculiarities.  1  Many  turned  the  cold  shoulder. 
The  French  Academy,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  took 
from  him  his  chair,  and  on  the  occasion  of  his  death 
ibrbore  the  eulogy  which  is  its  customary  tribute  to  a 
departed  academician.  But  an  incomparable  genius  in 
Germany,  —  an  authority  not  to  be  questioned  on  any 
subject  upon  which  he  spoke,  —  the  great  and  univer- 
sal Leibnitz,  bears  his  testimony  to  the  "  Project  of  Per- 
petual Peace,"  and,  so  doing,  enrolls  his  own  prodigious 
name  in  the  catalogue  of  our  cause.  In  observations  on 
this  Project,  communicated  to  its  author,  under  date  of 
February  7, 1715,  while  declaring  that  it  is  supported  by 
the  practical  authority  of  Henry  the  Fourth,  that  it  justly 
interests  the  whole  human  race,  and  is  not  foreign  to 
his  own  studies,  as  frorii  youth  he  had  occupied  himself 
with  law,  and  particularly  with  the  Law  of  Nations, 
Leibnitz  says :  "  /  have  read  it  tvith  attention,  and  am 
2Jcrs%adcd  that  such  a  project,  on  the  whole,  is  feasible,  and 
that  its  execution  would  be  one  of  the  most  usefid  things 
in  the  world.  Although  my  suffrage  cannot  be  of  any 
weight,  I  have  nevertheless  thought  that  gratitude 
obhged  me  not  to  withhold  it,  and  to  join  some  remarks 
for  the  satisfaction  of  a  meritorious  author,  who  ought  to 
have  much  reputation  and  firmness,  to  have  dared  and 
been  able  to  oppose  with  success  the  prejudiced  crowd, 
and  the  unbridled  tongue  of  mockers."  ^  Such  testi- 
mony from  Leibnitz  must  have  been  grateful  to  Saint- 
Pierre. 

I  cannot  close  this  brief  record  of  a  philanthropist, 
constant  in  an  age  when  War  was  more  regarded  than 

1  Les  Caract^res,  Du  Merite  Personnel,  Tom.  T.  p.  93. 

2  Observations  sur  le  Prqjet  dune  Paix  Perpetuelle;  Lettre  a  I'Abb^  de 
S.  Pierre:  Opera  (ed  Dutens),   Tom.  V.  pp.  56-62. 


200  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

Humanity,  without  offering  him  an  unaffected  homage. 
To  this  faithful  man  may  be  addi'essed  the  sublime  sal- 
utation which  hymned  from  the  soul  of  Milton  :  — 

"  Servant  of  God,  well  done !  well  hast  thou  fought 
The  better  fight,  who  single  hast  maintained 
Against  revolted  multitudes  the  cause 
Of  Truth,  in  word  mightier  than  they  in  arras, 
And  for  the  testimony  of  truth  hast  borne 
.     .     .     .     reproach,  lar  worse  to  bear 
Than  violence :  for  this  was  all  thy  care, 
To  stand  approved  in  sight  of  God,  though  worlds 
Judged  thee  perverse."  ^ 

Waking  hereafter  from  its  martial  trance,  the  world  will 
rejoice  to  salute  the  greatness  of  his  career.^  It  may 
well  measure  advance  in  civilization  by  the  apprecia- 
tion of  his  character. 

Contemporary  with  Saint-Pierre  was  another  French- 
man, to  whom  I  have  already  referred,  who  flashed  his 
genius  upon  the  game  of  War.  La  Bruyere  exhibits 
men,  for  the  sake  of  a  piece  of  land  more  or  less, 
agreeing  among  themselves  to  despoil,  burn,  and  kill  each 
other,  even  to  cutting  throats,  and,  for  the  doing  of  this 
more  ingeniously  and  safely,  inventing  a  beautiful  system, 
known  as  the  Art  of  War,  to.  the  practice  of  which  is 
attached  wdiat  is  called  Glory.  The  same  satirist,  who 
lived  in  an  age  of  War,  likens  men  to  animals,  even  to 
dogs  barking  at  each  other,  and  then  again  to  cats ;  and 
he  furnishes  a  picture  of  the  latter,  counted  by  the  thou- 
sand, and  marshalled  on  an  extended  plain,  where,  after 
mewing  their  best,  they  tlirow  themselves  upon  each 
otlier,  tooth  and  nail,  until  nine  or  ten  thousand  of 

1  Paradise  Lost,  Book  VI.  29 -.37. 

2  The  Nmivelle  Biogmphie  Generale  concludes  its  notice  of  him  thus:  — 
"  Apr^s  avoir  m^riti'  le  beau  snriiom  de  Sollicileur  p(nir  h  bien  public,  I'Abb^ 
de  Saint-Pierre  mourut,  en  1743,  ii  I'age  de  quatre-vingt-cinq  ans." 


COMMONWExVLTII   OF   NATIONS.  201 

them  are  left  dead  on  the  field,  infecting  the  air  for  ten 
leagues  M'ith  an  intolerable  stench, — and  all  this  for  the 
love  of  Glory.  But  how,  says  the  satirist,  can  we  dis- 
tinguish between  those  who  use  only  tooth  and  nail  and 
those  others,  who,  first  substituting  lances,  darts,  and 
swords,  now  employ  destructive  balls,  small  and  large, 
killing  at  once,  while,  penetrating  a  roof,  they  crash  from 
garret  to  cellar,  sacrificing  even  women  and  children  ? 
Wherein  is  the  Glory  ?  ^ 

Saint-Pierre  was  followed  by  that  remarkable  genius, 
Jean  Jacques  Eousseau,  in  a  small  work  with  the  modest 
title,  "  Extract  from  the  Project  of  Perpetual  Peace  by 
the  Abbe  Saint-Pierre."  ^  Without  referring  to  those 
higher  motives  supplied  by  humanity,  conscience,  and 
religion,  for  addressing  which  to  sovereigns  Saint-Pierre 
incurred  the  ridicule  of  what  are  called  practical  states- 
men, Eousseau  appeals  to  common  sense,  and  shows  how 
much  mere  worldly  interests  would  be  promoted  by 
submission  to  the  arbitration  of  an  impartial  tribunal, 
rather  than  to  the  uncertain  issue  of  arms,  with  no  ad- 
equate compensation,  even  to  the  victor,  for  blood  and 
treasure  sacrificed.  If  this  project  fails,  it  is  not,  ac- 
cording to  him,  because  chimerical,  but  because  men 
have  lost  their  wits,  and  it  is  a  sort  of  madness  to  be 
wise  in  the  midst  of  fools.  As  no  scheme  more  grand, 
more  beautiful,  or  more  useful  ever  occupied  the  human 
mind,  so,  says  Piousseau,  no  author  ever  deserved  atten- 
tion more  than  one  proposing  the  means  for  its  practical 
adoption ;  nor  can  any  humane  and  virtuous  man  fail  to 
regard  it  with  enthusiasm. 

1  Caract^res,  Du  Souverain,  Tom.  I.  p.  332 ;  Des  Jugemenis,  Tom.  II.  pp. 
57  -  59. 

2  Extrait  du  Projet  de  Paix  Perpetuelle  de  M.  T  Abb6  de  Saint-Pierre. 


202  WAK   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

The  recommendations  of  Eousseau,  reaching  Germany, 
were  encountered  by  a  writer  now  remembered  chiefly 
by  this  hardihood.  1  allude  to  Embser,  who  treats  of 
Perpetual  Peace  in  a  work  lirst  pubhshed  in  1779,  un- 
der the  title  of  "  The  Idolatry  of  our  Philosophical  Cen- 
tury," ^  and  at  a  later  day  with  a  new  title,  under  the 
alias  of  the  "  Eefutation  of  the  Project  of  Perpetual 
Peace."  ^  Objections  common  with  the  superficial  or 
prejudiced  are  vehemently  urged ;  the  imputation  upon 
Grotius  is  reproduced ;  and  the  project  is  pronounced 
visionary  and  impracticable,  while  War  is  exalted  as  an 
instrument  more  beneficent  than  Peace  in  advancing  the 
civilization  of  mankind.  At  a  later  day  Hegel  gave  the 
same  testimony,  thus  contributing  his  considerable  name 
to  vindicate  War.^ 

The  cause  of  Saint-Pierre  and  Eousseau  was  not 
Avithout  champions  in  Germany.  In  1763  we  meet  at 
Gottingen  the  work  of  Totze,  entitled  "  Permanent  and 
Universal  Peace,  according  to  the  Plan  of  Henry  the 
Fourth  "  ;  *  and  in  1767,  at  Leipsic,  an  ample  and  mature 
treatise  by  Lilienfeld,  under  the  name  of  "  New  Con- 
stitution for  States."^  Truth  often  appears  contempo- 
raneously to  different  minds  having  no  concert  with 
each  other ;  and  the  latter  work,  though  in  remarkable 
harmony  with  Saint-Pierre  and  Eousseau,  is  said  to  have 
been  composed  without  any  knowledge  of  their  labors. 
Lilienfeld  exposes  the  causes  and  calamities  of  War,  the 
waste  of  armaments  in  time  of  Peace,  and  the  miserable 
chances  of  the  battle-field,  where,  in  defiance  of  all  jus- 

1  Die  Abgbtterei  unsers  Pliilosopliischcn  Jphrhunderts. 

2  Widerlegung  des  Projects  von  Ewigen  Frieden. 

3  Philosophic  des  Rechts,  §§  .321  -.340:  Werkc,  Band  VIII.  pp.  408-423. 
*  P>\viger  und  Allgemeiiier  Friede  nach  der  Entwurf  Heiiirichs  IV. 

5  Neues  Staatsgebaude. 


1 


COMMONWE.U.TH   OF   NATIONS.  203 

tice,  controversies  are  determined  as  by  the  throw  of 
dice ;  and  he  urges  submission  to  Arbitrators,  unless,  in 
their  wisdom,  nations  establish  a  Supreme  Tribunal  with 
the  combined  power  of  the  Confederacy  to  enforce  its 
decrees. 

It  was  the  glory  of  another  German,  in  intellectual 
preeminence  the  successor  of  Leibnitz,  to  illustrate  this 
cause  by  special  and  repeated  labors.  At  Konigsberg, 
in  a  retired  corner  of  Prussia,  away  from  the  great  lines 
of  travel,  Immanuel  Kant  consecrated  his  days  to  the 
pursuit  of  truth.  During  a  long,  virtuous,  and  disinter- 
ested life,  stretching  beyond  the  period  appointed  for 
man,  —  from  1724  to  1804,  —  in  retirement,  undisturbed 
by  shock  of  revolution  or  war,  never  drawn  by  tempta- 
tion of  travel  more  than  seven  German  miles  from  the 
place  of  his  birth,  he  assiduously  studied  books,  men, 
and  things.  Among  the  fruits  of  his  ripened  powers 
was  that  system  of  philosophy  known  as  the  "  Critique 
of  Pure  Eeason,"  by  which  he  was  at  once  established  as 
a  master-mind  of  his  country.  His  words  became  the 
text  for  writers  without  number,  who  vied  with  each 
other  in  expoimding,  illustrating,  or  opposing  his  prin- 
ciples. At  this  period,  after  an  unprecedented  triumph 
in  philosophy,  when  his  name  had  become  familiar 
wherever  his  mother-tongue  was  spoken,  and  while 
his  rare  faculties  were  yet  untoiiched  by  decay,  in  the 
Indian  Summer  of  life,  the  great  thinker  published  a 
work  "  On  Perpetual  Peace."  ^  Interest  in  the  author, 
or  in  the  cause,  was  attested  by  prompt  translations 
into  the  French,  Danish,  and  Dutch  languages.     In  an 

1  Zum  Ewigen  Frieden,  1795;  Verkiindignng  des  nahen  Abschlusses  eines 
Tractats  zum  Ewigen  Frieden  in  der  Philosophie,  1796:  Sanamtliche  Werke, 
Band  VI.  pp.  405-454,  487-498. 


204  WAR   SYSTEM   OF  THE 

earlier  work,  entitled  "Idea  for  a  General  History  in 
a  Cosmopolitan  View,"  ^  he  espoused  the  same  cause, 
and  at  a  later  day,  in  his  "  Metaphysical  Elements  of 
Jurisprudence,"  ^  he  renewed  his  testimony.  In  the 
lapse  of  time  the  speculations  of  the  philosopher  have 
lost  much  of  their  original  attraction ;  other  systems, 
with  other  names,  have  taken  their  place.  But  these 
early  and  faithful  labors  for  Perpetual  Peace  cannot 
be  forgotten.  I'erhaps  through  these  the  fame  of  the 
applauded  philosopher  of  Konigsberg  may  yet  be  pre- 
served. 

By  Perpetual  Peace  Kant  understood  a  condition  of 
nations  where  there  could  be  no  fear  of  War ;  and  this 
condition,  he  said,  was  demanded  by  reason,  which,  ab- 
horring aU  War,  as  little  adapted  to  establisli  right,  must 
regard  this  final  development  of  the  Law  of  Nations  as 
a  consummation  worthy  of  every  effort.  The  philosopher 
was  right  in  proposing  nothing  less  than  a  reform  of 
International  Law.  To  this,  according  to  him,  all  per- 
sons, and  particularly  all  rulers,  should  bend  their  en- 
ergies. A  special  league  or  treaty  should  be  formed, 
which  may  be  truly  called  a  Treaty  of  Peace,  having  this 
peculiarity,  that,  whereas  other  treaties  terminate  a  sin- 
gle existing  War  only,  this  should  terminate  forever  aU 
AVar  between  the  parties  to  it.  A  Treaty  of  Peace, 
tacitly  acknowledging  the  right  to  wage  War,  as  all  trea- 
ties now  do,  is  nothing  more  than  a  Truce,  not  Peace. 
By  these  treaties  an  individual  War  is  ended,  but  not 
the  state  of  War.  There  may  not  be  constant  hostili- 
ties ;  but  there  will  be  constant  fear  of  hostilities,  with 

1  Idee  zu  einer  Allgemeincn  Geschichte  in  Weltbiirgerlicher  Absicht: 
Sammtliche  Werke,  Band  IV.  pp.  141  -  157. 

2  Metiiphysisclie  Anfangsgriinde  der  Reclitslehre,  §§  63-61,  Das  Volker- 
recht :  Sammtliche  Werlie,  Band  VII.  pp.  141  - 167. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  205 

constant  threat  of  aggression  and  attack.  Soldiers  and 
armaments,  now  nursed  as  a  Peace  establishment,  be- 
come the  fruitful  parent  of  new  wars.  With  real  Peace, 
these  would  be  abandoned.  Nor  should  nations  hesi- 
tate to  bow  before  the  law,  like  individuals.  They 
must  form  one  comprehensive  federation,  which,  by 
the  aggregation  of  other  nations,  would  at  last  embrace 
the  whole  earth.  And  this,  according  to  Kant,  in  the 
succession  of  years,  by  a  sure  progress,  is  the  irresisti- 
ble tendency  of  nations.  To  this  end  nations  must  be 
truly  independent ;  nor  is  it  possible  for  one  nation  to 
acquire  another  independent  nation,  whether  by  inher- 
itance, exchange,  purchase,  or  gift.  A  nation  is  not  prop- 
erty. The  philosophy  of  Kant,  therefore,  contemplated 
not  only  Universal  Peace,  but  Universal  Liberty.  The 
first  article  of  the  great  treaty  would  be,  that  every 
nation  is  free. 

These  important  conclusions  found  immediate  sup- 
port from  another  German  philosopher,  Fichte,  of  re- 
markable acuteness  and  perfect  devotion  to  truth,  whose 
name,  in  his  own  day,  awakened  an  echo  inferior  only 
to  that  of  Kant.  In  his  "  Groundwork  of  the  Law  of 
Nature."  ^  published  in  1796,  he  urges  a  Federation  of 
Nations,  with  a  Supreme  Tribunal,  as  the  best  way  of 
securmg  the  triumph  of  justice,  and  of  subduing  the  pow- 
er of  the  unjust.  To  the  suggestion,  that  by  this  Federa- 
tion injustice  might  be  done,  he  replied,  that  it  would 
not  be  easy  to  find  any  common  advantage  tempting  the 
confederate  nations  to  do  this  wrong. 

The  subject  was  again  treated  in  1804,  by  a  learned 
German,  Karl  Schwab,  whose  work,  entitled  "  Of  Una- 

1  Grundlatre  des  Natun-echts :  Ueberdas  Volkerrecht:  Siimmtliclie  Werke, 
Band  III.  pp.  369-382. 


206  WAR   SYSTEM   OF  THE 

voidable  Injustice,"  ^  deserves  notice  for  practical  clear- 
ness and  directness.  Nothing  could  be  better  than  his 
idea  of  the  Universal  State,  where  nations  will  be  unit- 
ed, as  citizens  in  the  Municipal  State  ;  nor  have  the 
promises  of  the  Future  been  more  carefully  presented. 
He  sees  clearly,  that,  even  when  this  triumph  of  civiliza- 
tion is  won,  justice  between  nations  will  not  be  always 
inviolate, —  for,  unhappily,  between  citizens  it  is  not  al- 
ways so ;  but,  whatever  may  be  the  exceptions,  it  will 
become  tlie  general  rule.  As  in  the  Municipal  State 
War  no  longer  prevails,  but  offences,  wrongs,  and  sallies 
of  vengeance  often  proceed  from  individual  citizens, 
with  insubordination  and  anarchy  sometimes,  —  so  in 
the  Universal  State  War  will  no  longer  prevail ;  but 
here  also,  between  the  different  nations,  who  will  be  as 
citizens  in  the  Federation,  there  may  be  wrongs  and 
aggressions,  with  resistance  even  to  the  common  power. 
In  short,  the  Universal  State  will  be  subject  to  the  same 
accidents  as  the  Municipal  State. 

The  cause  of  Permanent  Peace  became  a  thesis  for 
Universities.  At  Stuttgart,  in  1796,  there  was  an  ora- 
tion by  J.  H.  La  Motte,  entitled  Utrum  Pax  Perpetua 
pangi  possit,  nee  ne  ?  And  at  Leyden,  in  1808,  there 
was  a  Dissertation  by  Gabinus  de  Wal,  on  taking  his 
degree  as  Doctor  of  Laws,  entitled  Disputatio  Philo- 
sophico-Juridiea  de  Conjundione  Populorum  ad  Pacem 
Pcrpetuam?  This  learned  and  elaborate  performance, 
after  reviewing  previous  efforts  in  the  cause,  accords  a 

^  Ueber  das  Uiivermeidliche  Uiirecht. 

2  At  the  Paris  Peace  Congress  of  1849,  since  the  delivery  of  this  Address, 
with  Victor  Hugo  as  President,  and  Richard  Cobden  as  an  active  member, 
Mr.  Surmgar,  of  Amsterdam,  referred  to  this  Dissertation,  and  announced  a 
copy  of  it  which  liad  been  given  him  for  presentation  to  tiie  Congress  by  the 
son  of  the  author,  John  de  Wal,  Professor  of  .Jurisprudence  at  Leyden.  Jly 
own  copy  is  a  valued  present  from  Elihu  Burritt. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  207 

preeminence  to  Kant.  Such  a  voice  from  the  Univer- 
sity is  the  token  of  a  growing  sentiment,  and  an  exam- 
ple for  the  youth  of  our  own  day. 

Meanwhile  in  England  the  cause  was  espoused  hy 
that  indefatigable  jurist  and  reformer,  Jeremy  Bentham, 
who  embraced  it  in  his  comprehensive  labors.  In  an 
Essay  on  International  Law,  bearing  date  1786-89, 
and  first  published  in  1839,  by  his  executor,  Dr.  Bow- 
ring,i  he  develops  a  plan  for  Universal  and  Perpetual 
Peace  in  the  spirit  of  Saint-Pierre.  Such,  according  to 
him,  is  the  extreme  folly,  the  madness,  of  War,  tliat 
on  no  supposition  can  it  be  otherwise  than  mischievous. 
All  Trade,  in  essence,  is  advantageous,  even  to  the  party 
who  profits  by  it  the  least ;  all  War,  in  essence,  is  ru- 
inous :  and  yet  the  great  employments  of  Government 
are  to  treasure  up  occasions  of  War,  and  to  put  fetters 
upon  Trade.  To  remedy  this  evil,  Bentham  proposes, 
first,  "  The  reduction  and  fixation  of  the  forces  of  the 
several  nations  that  compose  the  European  system"; 
and  in  enforcing  this  proposition,  he  says  :  "  Whatsoever 
nation  should  get  the  start  of  the  other  in  making  tlie 
proposal  to  reduce  and  fix  the  amount  of  its  armed 
force  would  crown  itself  with  everlasting  honor.  The 
risk  would  be  nothing,  the  gain  certain.  This  gain 
would  be  the  giving  an  incontrovertible  demonstration 
of  its  own  disposition  to  peace,  and  of  the  opposite  dis- 
position in  the  other  nation,  in  case  of  its  rejecting 
the  proposal."  He  next  proposes  an  International  Court 
of  Judicature,  with  power  to  report  its  opinion,  and  to 
circulate  it  in  each  nation,  and,  after  a  certain  delay,  to 
put  a  contumacious  nation  under  the  ban.     He  denies 

1  Beiitliain's  Works,  Part  VIII  pp.  537-554. 


208  WAR   SYSTEM    OF   THE 

that  this  system  can  be  styled  visionary  in  any  respect : 
for  it  is  proved,  first,  that  it  is  the  interest  of  the  parties 
concerned ;  secondly,  that  the  parties  are  already  sen- 
sible of  this  interest ;  and,  thirdly,  that,  enlightened  by 
diplomatic  experience  in  difficult  and  complicated  con- 
ventions, they  are  prepared  for  the  new  situation.  All 
this  is  sober  and  practical. 

Coming  to  our  own  country,  I  find  many  names  for 
commemoration.  No  person,  in  all  history,  has  borne 
his  testimony  in  phrases  of  greater  pungency  or  more 
convincing  truth  than  Benjamin  Franklin.  "  In  my 
opinion,"  he  says,  "there  never  was  a  good  War  or  a 
bad  Peace "  ;  and  he  asks,  "  When  will  mankind  be 
convinced  that  all  Wars  are  follies,  very  expensive,  and 
very  mischievous,  and  agree  to  settle  their  differences 
by  arbitration  ?  Were  they  to  do  it  even  by  the  cast  of 
a  die,  it  would  be  better  than  by  fighting  and  destroy- 
ing each  other."  Then  again  he  says  :  "  We  make  daily 
great  improvements  in  natural,  there  is  one  I  wish  to 
see  in  moral  philosophy,  —  the  discovery  of  a  plan  that 
would  induce  and  oblige  nations  to  settle  their  dis- 
putes without  first  cutting  one  another's  throats.  When 
will  human  reason  be  sufficiently  improved  to  see  the 
advantage  of  this  ?  "  ^  As  diplomatist,  Franklin  strove 
to  limit  the  evils  of  War.  To  him,  \Ahile  Minister  at 
Paris,  belongs  the  honor  of  those  instructions,  more 
glorious  for  the  American  name  than  any  battle,  where 
our  naval  cruisers,  among  whom  was  the  redoubtable 
Paul  Jones,  were  directed,  in  the  interest  of  univer- 

1  Letter  to  .Tosiah  Quiney,  Sept.  11,  1783;  to  Mrs.  Mary  Hewson,  Jan.  27, 
1783;  to  Kiclianl  Price,  Feb.  6,  1780:  Works,  ed.  Sparlis,  Vol.  X.  p.  11; 
IX.  p.  476;   VIII.  p.  417. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  209 

sal  science,  to  allow  a  free  and  undisturbed  passage  to 
the  returning  expedition  of  Captain  Cook,  the  great  cir- 
cumnavigator, who  "  steered  Britain's  oak  into  a  world 
unknown."  ^  To  him  also  belongs  the  honor  of  intro- 
ducing into  a  treaty  witli  Prussia  a  provision  for  the 
abolition  of  that  special  scandal,  Private  War  on  the 
Ocean.2  In  similar  strain  with  Franklin,  Jefferson  says : 
"Will  nations  never  devise  a  more  rational  umpire  of 
differences  than  Force  ?  .  .  .  .  War  is  an  instrument 
entirely  inefficient  towards  redressing  wrong ;  it  multi- 
plies, instead  of  indemnifying  losses."  ^  And  he  proceeds 
to  exhibit  the  waste  of  AVar,  and  the  beneficent  conse- 
quences, if  its  expenditures  could  be  diverted  to  pur- 
poses of  practical  utility. 

To  Franklin  especially  must  thanks  be  rendered  for 
authoritative  words  and  a  precious  example.  But  there 
are  three  names,  fit  successors  of  Saint-Pierre,  —  I  speak 
only  of  those  on  whose  career  is  the  seal  of  death, — 
which  even  more  than  his  deserve  affectionate  regard.  I 
refer  to  Xoah  Worcester,  William  Ellery  Channing,  and 
William  Ladd.  To  dwell  on  the  services  of  these  our 
virtuous  champions  would  be  a  grateful  task.  The  oc- 
casion allows  a  passing  notice  only. 

In  Worcester  we  behold  the  single-minded  country 
clergyman,  little  gifted  as  preacher,  with  narrow  means, 
—  and  his  example  teaches  what  such  a  character  may 
accomplish,  —  in  humble  retirement,  pained  by  the  re- 
ports of  War,  and  at  last,  as  the  protracted  drama  of 

1  Franklin's  Works,  ed.  Sparks,  Vol.  V.  pp.  122-124.     Collections  of 
Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  Vol.  IV.  pp.  79-85. 

2  Franklin's  Works,  ed.  Sparks,  Vol.  II.  pp.  485,  486.     Lyman's  Diplo- 
macy of  the  United  States,  Vol.  L  pp.  143-148. 

3  Letter  to  Sir  John  Sinclair,  March  23,  1798:  Transactions  of  the  Amer- 
ican Philosophical  Society,  Vol.  IV.  pp.  330,  321. 


210  WAE   SYSTEM    OF  THE 

battles  was  about  to  close  at  Waterloo,  publishing  that 
appeal,  entitled  "A  Solemn  Eeview  of  the  Custom  of 
War,"  which  has  been  so  extensively  circulated  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  has  done  so  much  to  correct  the  invet- 
erate prejudices  which  surround  the  cause.  He  was  the 
founder,  and  for  some  time  the  indefatigable  agent,  of 
the  earliest  Peace  Society  in  the  country. 

The  eloquence  of  Channing  was  often,  both  with. 
tongue  and  pen,  directed  against  War.  He  was  heart- 
struck  by  the  awful  degradation  it  caused,  rudely  blot- 
ting out  in  men  the  image  of  God  their  Father ;  and  his 
words  of  flame  have  hghted  in  many  souls  those  exter- 
minating fires  that  can  never  die,  until  this  evil  is  swept 
from  the  earth. 

WilHam  Ladd,  after  completing  his  education  at  Har- 
vard University,  engaged  in  commercial  pursuits.  Early, 
through  Iris  own  exertions,  blessed  with  competency,  he 
could  not  be  idle.  He  was  childless  ;  and  his  affec- 
tions embraced  all  the  children  of  the  human  family. 
Like  Worcester  and  Channing,  his  attention  was  ar- 
rested by  the  portentous  crime  of  War,  and  he  was 
moved  to  dedicate  the  remainder  of  his  days  to  ear- 
nest, untiring  effort  for  its  abolition,  —  going  about  from 
place  to  place  inculcating  the  lesson  of  Peace,  with  sim- 
ple, cheerful  manner  winning  the  hearts  of  good  men, 
and  dropping  in  many  youthful  souls  precious  seeds  to 
ripen  in  more  precious  fruit.  He  was  the  founder  of  the 
American  Peace  Society,  in  which  was  finally  merged 
the  earlier  association  established  by  Worcester.  By  a 
long  series  of  practical  labors,  and  especially  by  devel- 
oping, maturing,  and  publishing  the  plan  of  an  Inter- 
national Congress,  has  William  T.add  enrolled  himself 
among  the  benefactors  of  mankind. 


COMMONWEALTH    OF   NATIONS.  211 

Such  are  some  of  the  names  which  hereafter,  when 
the  warrior  no  longer  usurps  the  blessings  promised 
to  the  peacemaker,  will  be  inscribed  on  immortal  tab- 
lets. 

Now,  at  last,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  in  our  own  day, 
by  the  labors  of  men  of  Peace,  by  the  irresistible  co- 
operating affinities  of  mankind,  nations  seem  to  be  visi- 
bly approaching  —  even  amidst  tumult  and  discord  — 
that  Unity  so  long  hoped  for,  prayed  for.  By  steam- 
boat, railroad,  and  telegraph,  outstripping  the  traditional 
movements  of  government,  men  of  all  countries  daily 
commingle,  ancient  prejudices  fast  dissolve,  while  an- 
cient sympathies  strengthen,  and  new  sympathies  come 
into  being.  The  chief  commercial  cities  of  England  send 
addresses  of  friendship  to  the  chief  commercial  cities  of 
France  ;  and  the  latter  delight  to  return  the  salutation. 
Similar  cords  of  amity  are  twined  between  cities  in  Eng- 
land and  cities  in  our  own  country.  The  visit  to  Lon- 
don of  a  band  of  French  National  Guards  is  reciprocated 
by  the  visit  to  Paris  of  a  large  company  of  Englishmen. 
Thus  are  achieved  pacific  conquests,  where  formerly  all 
the  force  of  arms  could  not  prevail.  Mr.  Vattemare  per- 
ambulates Europe  and  the  United  States  to  establish 
a  system  of  literary  international  exchanges.  By  the 
daily  agency  of  the  press  we  are  sharers  in  the  trials 
and  triumphs  of  brethren  in  all  lands,  and,  renouncing 
the  solitude  of  insulated  nationalities,  learn  to  live  in 
the  communion  of  associated  states.  By  multitudi- 
nous reciprocities  of  commerce  are  developed  relations 
of  mutual  dependence,  stronger  than  treaties  or  alliances 
engrossed  on  parchment,  —  while,  from  a  truer  apprecia- 
tion of  the  ethics  of  government,  we  arrive  at  the  con- 
viction, that  the  divine  injunction,  "  Do  unto  others  as 


212  WAR   SYSTEM   OF  THE 

you  would  have  them  do  unto  you,"  was  spoken  to  na- 
tions as  well  as  to  individuals. 

From  increasing  knowledge  of  each  other,  and  from  a 
higher  sense  of  duty  as  brethren  of  the  Human  Family, 
arises  among  mankind  an  increasing  interest  in  each 
other ;  and  charity,  once,  like  patriotism,  exclusively  na- 
tional, is  beginning  to  clasp  the  world  in  its  embrace. 
Every  discovery  of  science,  every  aspiration  of  philan- 
thropy, no  matter  what  the  country  of  its  origin,  is  now 
poured  into  the  common  stock.  Assemblies,  whether  of 
science  or  philanthropy,  are  no  longer  municipal  merely, 
but  welcome  delegates  from  all  the  nations.  Science  has 
convened  Congresses  in  Italy,  Germany,  and  England. 
Great  causes,  grander  even  than  Science,  —  like  Temper- 
ance, Freedom,  Peace,  —  have  drawn  to  London  large 
bodies  of  men  from  different  countries,  under  the  title 
of  World  Conventions,  in  whose  very  name  and  spirit  of 
fraternity  we  discern  the  prevailing  tendency.  Such  a 
convention,  dedicated  to  Universal  Peace,  held  at  Lon- 
don in  1 843,  was  graced  l)y  many  well  known  for  labors 
of  humanity.  At  Frankfort,  in  184G,  was  assembled  a 
large  Congress  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  to  consider 
what  could  be  done  fur  those  in  prison.  The  succeed- 
ing year  witnessed,  at  Brussels,  a  similar  Congress,  con- 
vened in  the  same  cliarity.  At  last,  in  August,  1848, 
we  hail,  at  Brussels,  another  Congress,  insi)ired  by  the 
presence  of  a  generous  American,  Elihu  Burritt,  —  who 
has  left  liis  anvil  at  home  to  teach  the  nations  how  to 
change  their  swords  into  ploughshares  and  their  spears 
into  pruning-liooks,  —  presided  over  by  an  eminent 
Belgian  magistrate,  and  composed  of  numerous  individ- 
uals, speaking  various  languages,  living  under  diverse 
forms  of  government,  various  in  political  opinions,  dif- 


COMMONWEALTH    OF   NATIONS.  213 

fering  in  religious  convictions,  but  all  moved  by  a  com- 
mon sentiment  to  seek  the  abolition  of  War,  and  the 
Disarming  of  the  Nations. 

The  Peace  Congress  at  Brussels  constitutes  an  epoch. 
It  is  a  palpable  development  of  those  international  at- 
tractions and  affinities  which  now  await  their  final  or- 
ganization. The  resolutions  it  adopted  are  so  important 
that  I  cannot  hesitate  to  introduce  them. 

"  1.  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  Congress,  an  appeal 
to  arms  for  the  purpose  of  deciding  disputes  among  nations 
is  a  custom  condemned  alike  by  religion,  reason,  justice,  hu- 
manity, and  the  best  interests  of  the  people,  —  and  that, 
therefore,  it  considers  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  civilized 
world  to  adopt  measures  calculated  to  effect  its  entire  abo- 
lition. 

*'  2.  That  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  to  urge  on  the 
several  governments  of  Europe  and  America  the  necessity 
of  introducing  a  clause  into  all  International  Treaties,  pro- 
viding for  the  settlement  of  all  disputes  by  Arbitration,  in 
an  amicable  manner,  and  according  to  the  rules  of  justice 
and  equity,  by  special  Arbitrators,  or  a  Supreme  Interna- 
tional Court,  to  be  invested  with  power  to  decide  in  cases 
of  necessity,  as  a  last  resort. 

"  3.  That  the  speedy  convocation  of  a  Congress  of  Na- 
tions, composed  of  duly  appointed  representatives,  for  the 
purpose  of  framing  a  well-digested  and  authoritative  Inter- 
national Code,  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  inasmuch  as  the 
organization  of  such  a  body,  and  the  unanimous  adoption  of 
such  a  Code,  wovdd  be  an  effectual  means  of  promoting  Uni- 
versal Peace. 

"  4.  That  this  Congress  respectfull}'  calls  the  attention  of 
civilized  governments  to  the  necessity  of  a  general  and  simul- 
taneous disarmament,  as  a  means  whereby  they  may  greatly 
diminish  the  financial  burdens  which  press  upon  them,  re- 


214  WAR   SYSTEM    OF  THE 

move  a  fertile  cause  of  irritation  and  inquietude,  inspire  mu- 
tual confidence,  and  promote  the  interchange  of  good  offices, 
which,  while  they  advance  the  interests  of  each  state  in  par- 
ticular, contribute  largely  to  the  maintenance  of  general 
Peace,  and  the  lasting  prosperity  of  nations." 

In  France  these  resolutions  received  the  adhesion  of 
Lamartine,  —  in  England,  of  Eichard  Cobden.  They 
have  been  welcomed  throughout  Great  Britain,  by  large 
and  enthusiastic  popular  assemblies,  hanging  with  de- 
light upon  the  practical  le.ssons  of  peace  on  earth  and 
good-will  to  men.  At  the  suggestion  of  the  Congress 
at  Brussels,  and  in  harmony  with  the  demands  of  an 
increasing  public  sentiment,  another  Congress  is  called 
at  Paris,  in  the  approaching  month  of  August.  The 
place  of  meeting  is  auspicious.  There,  as  in  the  very 
cave  of  ^olus,  whence  have  so  often  raged  forth  con- 
flicting winds  and  resounding  tempests,  are  to  gather 
delegates  from  various  nations,  including  a  large  number 
from  our  own  country,  whose  glad  work  will  be  to  hush 
and  imprison  these  winds  and  tempests,  and  to  bind 
them  in  the  chains  of  everlasting  Peace. 

Not  in  voluntary  assemblies  only  has  our  cause  found 
welcome.  Into  legislative  halls  it  has  made  its  way.  A 
document  now  before  me,  in  the  handwriting  of  Samuel 
Adams,  an  approved  patriot  of  the  Kevolution,  bears 
witness  to  liis  desire  for  action  on  this  subject  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a 
Letter  of  Instructions  from  the  Legislature  of  Massa- 
chusetts to  the  delegates  in  Congress  of  this  State,  and, 
though  without  date,  seems  to  have  been  prepared  some 
time  between  tlie  Treaty  of  Peace  in  1783  and  tlie  adop- 
tion of  the  National  Constitution  in  1789.  It  is  as  fol- 
lows. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  215 

"  Gentlemen,  —  Although  the  General  Court  have  lately 
instructed  you  concerning  various  matters  of  very  great  im- 
portance to  this  Commonwealth,  they  cannot  finish  the  busi- 
ness of  the  year  until  they  have  transmitted  to  you  a  further 
instruction,  which  they  have  long  had  in  contemplation,  and 
which,  if  their  most  ardent  wish  could  be  obtained,  might  in 
its  consequences  extensively  promote  the  happiness  of  man. 

"You  are,  therefore,  hereby  instructed  and  urged  to  move 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  to  take  into  their 
deep  and  most  serious  consideration,  whether  any  measures 
can  by  them  be  used,  through  their  influence  with  such  of 
the  nations  in  Europe  with  whom  they  are  united  by  Treaties 
of  Amity  or  Commerce,  that  National  Differences  may  be 
settled  and  determined  without  the  necessity  of  War,  in 
which  the  world  has  too  long  been  deluged,  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  human  happiness  and  the  disgrace  of  human  reason 
and  government. 

"  If,  after  the  most  mature  deliberation,  it  shall  appear 
that  no  measures  can  be  taken  at  present  on  this  very  inter- 
esting subject,  it  is  conceived  it  would  redound  much  to  the 
honor  of  the  United  States  that  it  was  attended  to  by  their 
great  Representative  in  Congress,  and  be  accepted  as  a  testi- 
mony of  gratitude  for  most  signal  favors  granted  to  the  said 
States  by  Him  who  is  the  almighty  and  most  gracious  Father 
and  Friend  of  mankind. 

"  And  you  are  further  instructed  to  move  that  the  forego- 
ing Letter  of  Instructions  be  entered  on  the  Journals  of  Con- 
gress, if  it  may  be  thought  proper,  that  so  it  may  remain 
for  the  inspection  of  the  delegates  from  this  Commonwealth, 
if  necessary,  in  any  future  time."  ^ 

I  am  not  able  to  ascertain  whether  this  document 
ever  became  a  legislative  act ;  but  unquestionably  it 
attests,  in  authentic  form,  that  a  great  leader  in  Mas- 

1  MSS.  of  Samuel  Adams,  belonging  to  the  historian,  George  Bancroft. 


216  WAR   SYSTEM   OF  THE 

sachusetts,  after  the  establishment  of  that  Independence 
for  which  he  had  so  assiduously  labored,  hoped  to  enlist 
not  only  the  Legislature  of  his  State,  but  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  in  efforts  for  the  emancipation  of 
nations  from  the  tyranny  of  War.  For  this  early  effort, 
when  the  cause  of  Permanent  Peace  had  never  been 
introduced  to  any  legislative  body,  Samuel  Adams  de- 
serves grateful  mention. 

Many  years  later  the  subject  reached  Congress,  where, 
in  1838,  it  was  considered  in  an  elaborate  report  by  the 
late  Mr.  Legare,  in  behalf  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives,  prompted  by  me- 
morials from  the  friends  of  Peace.  While  injudiciously 
discountenancing  an  Association  of  Nations,  as  not  yet 
sanctioned  by  public  opinion,  the  Committee  acknowl- 
edge "  that  the  union  of  all  nations  in  a  state  of  Peace, 
under  the  restraints  and  the  protection  of  law,  is  the 
ideal  perfection  of  civil  society "  ;  that  they  "  concur 
fully  in  the  benevolent  object  of  the  memorialists,  and 
believe  that  there  is  a  visible  tendency  in  the  spirit  and 
institutions  of  the  age  towards  the  practical  accomi)lish- 
ment  of  it  at  some  future  period  "  ;  that  they  "  heartily 
concur  with  the  memorialists  in  recommending  a  refer- 
ence to  a  Third  Power  of  aP  such  controversies  as  can 
safely  be  confided  to  any  tribunal  unknown  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  our  own  country  "  ;  and  that  "  such  a  prac- 
tice will  be  followed  by  other  powers,  and  will  soon  grow 
up  into  the  customary  law  of  civilized  nations."  ^ 

The  Legislature  of  ]\Iassachusetts,  by  a  series  of  resolu- 
tions, in  harmony  with  the  early  sentiments  of  Samuel 
Adams,  adopted,  in  1844,  witli  exceeding  unanimity, 
declare,  that  they  "  regard  Arbitration  as  a  practical  and 

1  Reports  of  Coniminocs,  25th  Cong.  2d  Sess.,  No.  979 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  217 

desirable  substitute  for  War,  in  the  adjustment  of  inter- 
national differences " ;  and  still  further  declare  their 
"earnest  desire  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  would,  at  the  earliest  opportunity,  take  measures 
for  obtaining  the  consent  of  the  powers  of  Christendom 
to  the  establishment  of  a  general  Convention  or  Congress 
of  Nations,  for  the  purpose  of  settling  the  principles  of 
International  Law,  and  of  organizing  a  High  Court  of 
Nations  to  adjudge  all  cases  of  difficulty  which  may  be 
brought  before  them  by  the  mutual  consent  of  two  or 
more  nations."^  During  the  winter  of  1849  the  subject 
was  again  presented  to  the  American  Congress  by  Mr. 
Tuck,  who  asked  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  House 
of  Kepresentatives  to  offer  the  following  preamble  and 
resolution :  — 

"Whereas  the  evils  of  War  are  acknowledged  by  all  civil- 
ized nations,  and  the  calamities,  individual  and  general, 
which  are  inseparably  connected  with  it,  have  attracted  the 
attention  of  many  humane  and  enlightened  citizens  of  this 
and  other  countries  ;  and  whereas  it  is  the  disposition  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  to  cooperate  with  others  in  all 
appropriate  and  judicious  exertions  to  prevent  a  recun-ence 
of  national  conflicts  ;  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  be  di- 
rected to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  authorizing  a  cor- 
respondence to  be  opened  by  the  Secretary  of  State  with 
Foreign  Governments,  on  the  subject  of  procuring  Treaty 
stipulations  for  the  reference  of  all  future  disputes  to  a 
friendly  Arbitration,  or  for  the  establishment,  instead  there- 
of, of  a  Congress  of  Nations,  to  determine  International  Law 
and  settle  international  disputes."^ 

1  Mass.  House  Documents,  Sess.  1844,  No.  18. 

2  Congressional  Globe,  30th  Cong.  2d  Sess.,  Jan.  16,  1849,  p.  267.  See 
also  House  .Journal,  Feb.  5,  p.  372. 


218  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

Though  for  the  present  unsuccessful,  this  excellent  ef- 
fort prepares  the  way  ibr  another  trial. 

Nor  does  it  stand  alone.  Almost  contemporaneously, 
M.  Bouvet,in  the  National  Assembly  of  France,  submitted 
a  proposition  of  a  similar  character,  as  follows  :  — 

"  Seeing  that  War  between  nations  is  contrary  to  religion, 
humanity,  and  the  public  well-being,  the  French  National 
Assembly  decrees  :  — 

"  The  French  Republic  proposes  to  the  Governments  and 
Representative  Assemblies  of  the  different  States  of  Europe, 
America,  and  other  civilized  countries,  to  unite,  by  their  rep- 
resentation, in  a  Congress  which  shall  have  for  its  object  a 
proportional  disarmament  among  the  Powers,  the  abolition 
of  War,  and  a  substitution  for  that  barbarous  usage  of  an 
Arbitral  jurisdiction,  of  which  the  said  Congress  shall  imme- 
diately fulfil  the  functions." 

In  an  elaborate  report,  the  French  Committee  on  For- 
eign Affairs,  while  declining  at  present  to  recommend 
this  proposition,  distinctly  sanction  its  object. 

At  a  still  earlier  date,  some  time  in  the  summer  of 
1848,  Arnold  Pvuge  brought  the  same  measure  before 
the  German  Parliament  at  Frankfort,  by  moving  the 
following  amendment  to  the  Report  of  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Affairs :  — 

"  That,  as  Armed  Peace,  by  its  standing  armies,  imposes 
an  intolerable  burden  upon  the  people  of  Europe,  and  endan- 
gers civil  freedom,  we  therefore  recognize  the  necessity  of 
calling  into  existence  a  Congress  of  Nations,  for  the  purpose 
of  effecting  a  general  disarmament  of  Europe." 

Though  this  proposition  failed,  yet  the  mover  is  re- 
ported to  have  sustained  it  by  a  speech  which  was  re- 
ceived with  applause,  both  in  the  assembly  and  gallery. 
Among  other  things,  he  used  these  important  words  :  — 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  219 

"  There  is  no  necessity  for  feeding  an  army  of  military  idlers 
and  eaters.  There  is  nothing  to  fear  from  our  neighbor  bar- 
barians, as  they  are  called.  You  must  give  up  the  idea 
that  the  French  ivill  eat  us  up,  and  that  the  Prussians  ca7i 
eat  us  up.  Soldiers  must  cease  to  exist ;  then  shall  no  more 
cities  be  bombarded.  These  opinions  must  be  kept  up  and 
propagated  by  a  Congress  of  Nations.  I  vote  that  the  na- 
tions of  Europe  disarm  at  once." 

In  the  British  Parliament  the  cause  has  found  an  able 
representative  in  Mr.  Cobden,  whose  name  is  an  omen 
of  success.  He  has  addressed  many  large  popular  meet- 
ings in  its  behaK,  and  already,  by  speech  and  motion  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  has  striven  for  a  reduction  in 
the  armaments  of  Great  Britain.  Only  lately  he  gave 
notice  of  the  following  motion,  which  he  intends  to  call 
up  in  that  assembly  at  the  earliest  moment :  — 

"  That  an  humble  address  be  presented  to  her  Majesty, 
praying  that  she  will  be  graciously  pleased  to  direct  her 
Principal  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs  to  enter  into 
communication  with  Foreign  Powers,  inviting  them  to  con- 
cur in  treaties  binding  the  respective  parties,  in  the  event  of 
any  future  misunderstanding  which  cannot  be  arranged  by 
amicable  negotiation,  to  refer  the  matter  in  dispute  to  the 
decision  of  Arbitrators." 

Such  is  the  Peace  Movement.^  With  the  ever-flowing 
current  of  time  it  has  gained  ever-increasing  strength, 
and  it  has  now  become  like  a  mighty  river.  At  first 
but  a  slender  fountain,  sparkhng  on  some  lofty  summit, 
it  has  swollen  with  every  tributary  rill,  with  the  friendly 
rains  and  dews  of  heaven,  and  at  last  with  the  associate 
waters  of  various  nations,  until  it  washes  the  feet  of 

1  It  will  be  remarked  that  this  history  stops  with  the  date  of  this  Ad- 
dress. 


220  WAR    SYSTEM   OF  THE 

populous  cities,  rejoicing  on  its  peaceful  banks.  By  the 
voices  of  poets,  —  by  tlie  aspirations  and  labors  of  states- 
men, philosophers,  and  good  men,  —  by  the  experience  of 
history,  —  by  the  peaceful  union  into  nations  of  families, 
tribes,  and  provinces,  divesting  themselves  of  "  liberty  " 
to  wage  War,  —  by  the  example  of  leagues,  alliances, 
confederacies,  and  congresses,  —  by  the  kindred  move- 
ments of  our  age,  all  tending  to  Unity, — by  an  awakened 
public  sentiment,  and  a  growing  recognition  of  Human 
Brotherhood,  —  by  the  sympathies  of  large  popular  as- 
semblies, —  by  the  formal  action  of  legislative  bodies,  — 
by  the  promises  of  Christianity,  are  we  encouraged  to 
persevere.  So  doing,  we  act  not  against  Nature,  but 
with  Nature,  making  ourselves,  according  to  the  injunc- 
tion of  Lord  Bacon,  its  ministers  and  interpreters.  From 
no  single  man,  from  no  body  of  men,  does  this  cause 
proceed.  Not  from  Saint-Pierre  or  Leibnitz,  from  Eous- 
seau  or  Kant,  in  other  days,  —  not  from  Jay  or  Burritt, 
from  Cobden  or  Lamartine,  in  our  own.  It  is  the  irre- 
pressible utterance  of  the  longing  with  which  the  heart 
of  Humanity  labors  ;  it  is  the  universal  expression  of 
the  Spirit  of  the  Age,  thirsting  after  Harmony ;  it  is 
the  heaven-born  whisper  of  Truth,  immortal  and  omnip- 
otent ;  it  is  the  word  of  God,  published  in  commands 
as  from  the  burning  bush ;  it  is  the  voice  of  Christ, 
declaring  to  all  mankind  that  they  are  brothers,  and 
saying  to  the  tvirbulent  nationalities  of  the  earth,  as  to 
the  raging  sea,  "  Peace,  be  still ! "  0 

Gentlemen  of  the  Peace  Society,  —  Such  is  the 
"War  System  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Nations  ;  and  such 
are  the  means  and  auguries  of  its  overtlirow.  To  aid 
and  direct  pubhc  sentiment  so  as  to  hasten  the  com- 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  221 

ing  of  this  day  is  the  chosen  object  of  this  Society.  All 
who  have  candidly  attended  me  in  this  exposition  will 
bear  witness  that  our  attempt  is  in  no  way  inconsistent 
with  the  human  character,  —  that  we  do  not  seek  to 
suspend  or  hold  in  check  any  general  laws  of  Nature, 
but  simply  to  overthrow  a  barbarous  Institution,  having 
the  sanction  of  International  Law,  and  to  bring  nations 
within  that  system  of  social  order  which  has  already 
secured  such  inestimable  good  to  civil  society,  and  is  as 
applicable  to  nations  in  their  relations  with  each  other 
as  to  individuals. 

Tendencies  of  nations,  as  revealed  in  history,  teach 
that  our  aims  are  in  harmony  with  prevailing  laws,  which 
God,  in  his  benevolence,  has  ordained  for  mankind. 

Examples  teach  also  that  we  attempt  nothing  that  is 
not  directly  practicable.  If  the  several  States  of  the 
Helvetic  Eepublic,  if  the  thirty  independent  States  of 
the  North  American  Union,  if  the  thirty-eight  inde- 
pendent sovereignties  of  the  German  Confederation, 
can,  by  formal  stipulation,  divest  themselves  of  the 
right  of  war  with  each  other,  and  consent  to  submit  all 
mutual  controversies  to  Arbitration,  or  to  a  High  Court 
of  Judicature,  then  can  the  Commonwealth  of  Nations 
do  the  same.  Nor  should  they  hesitate,  while,  in  the 
language  of  William  Penn,  such  surpassing  instances 
show  that  it  may  he  done,  and  Europe,  by  her  incom- 
parable miseries,  that  it  ought  to  he  done.  Nay,  more, 
—  if  it  wovdd  be  criminal  in  these  several  clusters  of 
States  to  reestablish  the  Institution  of  War  as  Arbiter 
of  Justice,  then  is  it  criminal  in  the  Commonwealth  of 
Nations  to  continue  it. 

Changes  already  wrought  in  the  Laws  of  War  teach 
that  the  whole  System  may  be  abolished.     The  exist- 


222  "^VAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

ence  of  laws  implies  authority  that  sanctions  or  enacts, 
which,  in  the  present  case,  is  the  Commonwealth  of 
Nations.  This  authority  can,  of  course,  modify  or  ab- 
rogate what  it  originally  sanctioned  or  enacted.  In  the 
exercise  of  this  power,  the  Laws  of  War  have  been  mod- 
ified, from  time  to  time,  in  important  particulars.  Pris- 
oners taken  in  battle  cannot  now  be  killed  ;  nor  can  they 
be  reduced  to  slavery.  Poison  and  assassination  can  no 
longer  be  employed  against  an  enemy.  Private  property 
on  land  cannot  be  seized.  Persons  occujiied  on  land 
exclusively  with  the  arts  of  Peace  cannot  be  molested. 
It  remains  that  the  authority  by  which  the  Laws  of 
War  have  been  thus  modified  should  entirely  abrogate 
them.  Their  existence  is  a  disgrace  to  civilization ;  for 
it  implies  the  common  coyiscnt  of  nations  to  the  Arbit- 
rament of  War,  as  regulated  by  these  laws.  Like  the 
Laws  of  the  Duel,  they  should  peld  to  some  arbitra- 
ment of  reason.  If  the  former,  once  so  firmly  imbedded 
in  Municipal  Law,  could  be  abolished  by  individual  na- 
tions, so  also  can  the  Laws  of  War,  which  are  a  part  of 
International  Law,  be  abolished  by  the  Commonwealth 
of  Nations.  In  the  light  of  reason  and  religion  there 
can  be  but  one  Law  of  War,  —  the  great  law  which  pro- 
nounces it  unwise,  unchristian,  and  unjust,  and  forbids 
it  forever,  as  a  crime. 

Thus  distinctly  alleging  the  practicability  of  our  aims, 
I  may  properly  introduce  an  incontrovertible  authority. 
Listen  to  the  words  of  an  American  statesman,  whose 
long  life  was  spent,  at  home  or  abroad,  in  the  service  of 
his  country,  and  whose  undoubted  familiarity  with  the 
Law  of  Nations  was  never  surpassed,  —  John  Quincy 
Adams.  "  War,"  he  says,  in  one  of  the  legacies  of  his 
venerable  experience,  "  by  the   common   consent  and 


COMMONWEALTH    OF   NATIONS.  223 

mere  will  of  civilized  man,  has  not  only  been  divested  of 
its  most  atrocious  cruelties,  but  for  multitudes,  growing 
multitudes  of  individuals,  lias  already  been  and  is  abol- 
ished. Why  should  it  not  be  abolished  for  all  ?  Let  it  be 
impressed  upon  the  heart  of  every  one  of  you,  impress 
it  upon  the  minds  of  your  children,  that  this  total 
abolition  of  War  upon  earth  is  an  improvement  in  the 
condition  of  man  entirely  dependent  on  his  own  will. 
He  cannot  repeal  or  change  the  laws  of  physical  Nature. 
He  cannot  redeem  himself  from  the  ills  that  flesh  is 
heir  to.  But  the  ills  of  War  and  Slavery  are  all  of  his 
own  creation  ;  he  has  but  to  will,  and  he  effects  the 
cessation  of  them  altogether."  ^ 

Well  does  John  Quincy  Adams  say  that  mankind 
have  but  to  will  it,  and  War  is  abolished.  Will  it,  and 
War  disappears  like  the  Duel.  AVill  it,  and  War  skulks 
like  the  Torture.  Will  it,  and  War  fades  away  like  the 
fires  of  religious  persecution.  Will  it,  and  War  passes 
among  profane  follies,  like  the  ordeal  of  burning  plough- 
shares. Will  it,  and  War  hurries  to  join  the  earlier 
institution  of  Cannibalism.  Will  it,  and  War  is  chas- 
tised from  the  Commonwealth  of  Nations,  as  Slavery 
has  been  chastised  from  municipal  jurisdictions  by  Eng- 
land and  France,  by  Tunis  and  Tripoli. 

To  arouse  this  public  will,  which,  like  a  giant,  yet 
sleeps,  but  whose  awakened  voice  nothing  can  with- 
stand, should  be  our  endeavor.  The  true  character  of 
the  War  System  must  be  exposed.  To  be  hated,  it 
needs  only  to  be  comprehended  ;  and  it  will  surely  be 
abolished  as  soon  as  this  is  accomplished.  See,  then, 
that  it  is  comprehended.      Exhibit  its  manifold  atro- 

1  Oration  at  Newburyport,  July  4,  1837,  pp.  56,  67. 


224  AVAR   SYSTEM    OF   THE 

cities.  Strip  away  all  its  presumptuous  pretences,  its 
specious  apologies,  its  hideous  sorceries.  Above  all, 
men  must  no  longer  deceive  tbeuLselves  by  the  shallow 
thouglit  that  this  System  is  the-  necessary  incident  of 
imperfect  human  nature,  and  thus  cast  upon  God  the 
responsibility  for  their  crimes.  They  must  see  clearly 
that  it  is  a  monster  of  their  own  creation,  born  with 
their  consent,  whose  vital  spark  is  fed  by  their  breath, 
and  without  tlieir  breath  must  necessarily  die.  They 
must  see  distinctly,  what  I  have  so  carefully  presented 
to-niuht,  that  AYar,  under  the  Law  of  Nations,  is  notliing 
but  an  Institution,  and  the  whole  War  System  nothing 
but  an  Establishment  for  the  administration  of  inter- 
national justice,  for  which  the  Commonwealth  of  Nations 
is  directly  responsible,  and  which  that  Commonwealth 
can  at  any  time  remove. 

Eecognizing  these  things,  men  must  cease  to  cherish 
War,  and  will  renounce  all  appeal  to  its  Arliitrament. 
They  will  forego  rights,  rather  than  wage  an  irreligious 
battle.  But,  criminal  and  irrational  as  is  War,  unhap- 
pily, in  the  present  state  of  human  error,  we  cannot 
expect  large  numbers  to  appreciate  its  true  character, 
and  to  hate  it  with  that  perfect  hatred  making  them 
renounce  its  agency,  unless  we  offer  an  approved  and 
practical  mode  of  determining  international  controver- 
sies, as  a  substitute  for  the  imagined  necessity  of  the  bar- 
barous ordeal.  This  we  are  able  to  do;  and  so  doing, 
we  reflect  new  light  upon  the  atrocity  of  a  system  which 
not  only  tramples  upon  all  the  precejits  of  the  Christian 
faith,  but  defies  justice  and  discards  reason. 

1.  The  most  complete  and  permanent  sul)stitute  would 
be  a  Congress  of  Nations,  with  a  High  Court  of  Judica- 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  225 

ture.  Sucli  a  system,  while  admitted  on  all  sides  to 
promise  excellent  results,  is  opposed  on  two  grounds. 
First,  because,  as  regards  the  smaller  states,  it  would 
be  a  tremendous  engine  of  oppression,  subversive  of 
their  political  independence.  Surely,  it  could  not  be 
so  oppressive  as  the  War  System.  But  the  experience 
of  the  smaller  States  in  the  German  Confederation  and 
in  the  American  Union,  nay,  the  experience  of  Bel- 
gium and  Holland  by  the  side  of  the  overtopping  power 
of  France,  and  the  experience  of  Denmark  and  Sweden 
in  the  very  night-shade  of  Russia,  all  show  the  futility 
of  tliis  objection.  Secondly,  because  the  decrees  of  such 
a  court  could  not  be  carried  into  effect.  Even  if  they 
were  enforced  by  the  combined  power  of  the  associate 
nations,  the  sword,  as  the  executive  arm  of  the  high 
tribunal,  would  be  only  the  melancholy  instrument  of 
Justice,  not  the  Arbiter  of  Justice,  and  therefore  not 
condemned  by  the  conclusive  reasons  against  inter- 
national appeals  to  the  sword.  From  the  experience 
of  history,  and  particularly  from  the  experience  of  the 
thirty  States  of  our  Union,  we  learn  that  the  occasion 
for  any  executive  arm  will  be  rare.  The  State  of  Ehode 
Island,  in  its  recent  controversy  with  Massachusetts, 
submitted  with  much  indifference  to  the  adverse  decree 
of  the  Supreme  Court;  and  I  doubt  not  that  Missouri 
and  Iowa  will  submit  with  equal  contentment  to  any 
determination  of  their  present  controversy  by  the  same 
tribunal.  The  same  submission  would  attend  the  de- 
crees of  any  Court  of  Judicature  established  by  the 
Commonwealth  of  Nations.  There  is  a  growing  sense 
of  justice,  combined  with  a  growing  might  of  public 
opinion,  too  little  known  to  the  soldier,  that  would 
maintain  the  judgments  of  the  august  tribunal  assem- 


226  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

bled  in  the  face  of  the  Nations,  better  than  the  swords 
of  all  the  marshals  of  France,  better  than  the  bloody 
terrors  of  Austerlitz  or  Waterloo. 

The  idea  of  a  Congress  of  Nations  with  a  High  Court 
of  Judicature  is  as  practicable  as  its  consummation  is 
confessedly  dear  to  the  friends  of  Universal  Peace. 
Whenever  this  Congress  is  convened,  as  surely  it  will 
be,  I  know  not  all  the  names  that  will  deserve  com- 
memoration in  its  earliest  proceedings ;  but  there  are 
two,  whose  particular  and  long-continued  advocacy  of 
this  Institution  will  connect  them  indissolubly  with  its 
fame,  —  the  Abbe  Saint-Pierre,  of  France,  and  William 
Ladd,  of  the  United  States. 

2.  There  is  still  another  substitute  for  War,  whicli  is 
not  exposed  even  to  the  shallow  objections  launched 
against  a  CongTess  of  Nations.  By  formal  treaties  be- 
tween two  or  more  nations,  Arbitration  may  be  estab- 
lished as  the  mode  of  determining  controversies  between 
them.  In  every  respect  this  is  a  contrast  to  War.  It 
is  rational,  humane,  and  cheap.  Above  all,  it  is  consist- 
ent with  the  teachings  of  Christianity.  As  I  mention 
this  substitute,  I  should  do  injustice  to  the  cause  and 
to  my  own  feelings,  if  I  did  not  express  our  obligations 
to  its  efficient  proposer  and  advocate,  our  fellow-citizen, 
and  the  President  of  this  Society,  the  honored  son  of  an 
illustrious  father,  whose  absence  to-night  enables  me, 
without  offending  his  known  modesty,  to  introduce  this 
tribute  :  I  mean  William  Jay. 

The  complete  overthrow  of  the  War  System,  involv- 
ing the  disarming  of  the  Nations,  would  follow  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  Congress  of  Nations,  or  any  general 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  227 

system  of  Arbitration.  Then  at  last  our  aims  would 
be  accomplished ;  then  at  last  Peace  would  be  organ- 
ized among  the  Nations.  Then  might  Christians  repeat 
the  fitful  boast  of  the  generous  Mohawk :  "  We  have 
thrown  the  hatchet  so  high  into  the  air,  and  beyond  the 
skies,  that  no  arm  on  earth  can  reach  to  bring  it  down." 
Incalculable  sums,  now  devoted  to  armaments  and  the 
destructive  industry  of  AVar,  would  be  turned  to  the 
productive  industry  of  Art  and  to  offices  of  Beneficence. 
As  in  the  dead  and  rotten  carcass  of  the  lion  which 
roared  against  the  strong  man  of  Israel,  after  a  time, 
were  a  swarm  of  bees  and  honey,  so  would  the  enor- 
mous carcass  of  War,  dead  and  rotten,  be  filled  with 
crowds  of  useful  laborers  and  all  good  works,  and  the 
riddle  of  Samson  be  once  more  interpreted:  "Out  of 
the  eater  came  forth  meat,  and  out  of  the  strong  came 
forth  sweetness." 

Put  together  the  products  of  all  the  mines  in  the 
world,  —  the  glistening  ore  of  California,  the  accumu- 
lated treasures  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  with  the  diamonds 
of  Golconda,  —  and  the  whole  shining  heap  will  be  less 
than  the  means  thus  diverted  from  War  to  Peace.  Un- 
der the  influence  of  such  a  change,  civilization  wiU  be 
quickened  anew.  Then  wiU  happy  Labor  find  its  re- 
ward, and  the  whole  land  be  fiUed  with  its  increase. 
There  is  no  aspiration  of  Knowledge,  no  vision  of  Chari- 
ty, no  venture  of  Enterprise,  no  fancy  of  Art,  which  may 
not  then  be  fufilled.  The  great  unsolved  problem  of 
Pauperism  will  be  solved  at  last.  There  will  be  no  pau- 
pers, when  there  are  no  soldiers.  The  social  struggles, 
so  fearfully  disturbing  European  nations,  will  die  away 
in  the  happiness  of  unarmed  Peace,  no  longer  incum- 
bered by  the  oppressive  system  of  War;  nor  can  there 


228  WAR   SYSTEM    OF   THE 

be  well-founded  hope  tliat  tliese  struggles  will  perma- 
nently cease,  so  long  as  this  system  endures.  The  people 
ought  not  to  rest,  they  cannot  rest,  while  this  system 
endures.  As  King  Arthur,  prostrate  on  the  earth,  with 
bloody  streams  pouring  from  his  veins,  could  not  be  at 
ease,  until  his  sword,  the  terrific  Excalibar,  was  thrown 
into  the  flood,  so  the  Nations,  now  prostrate  on  the  earth, 
with  bloody  streams  pouring  from  their  veins,  cannot  be 
at  ease,  until  they  fling  far  away  the  wicked  sword  of 
War.  King  Arthur  said  to  his  attending  knight,  "  As 
thou  love  me,  spare  not  to  thi'ow  it  in";  and  this  is  the 
voice  of  the  Nations  also. 

Lop  off  the  unchristian  armaments  of  the  Christian 
Nations,  extirpate  these  martial  cancers,  that  they  may 
feed  no  longer  upon  the  life-blood  of  the  people,  and 
society  itself,  now  "weary  and  sick,  will  become  fresh 
and  young,  —  not  by  opening  its  veins,  as  under  the 
incantation  of  Medea,  in  the  wild  hope  of  infusing  new 
strength,  but  by  the  amputation  and  complete  removal 
of  a  deadly  excrescence,  with  all  its  unutterable  debil- 
ity and  exhaustion.  Energies  hitherto  withdrawn  from 
proper  healthful  action  will  then  replenish  it  with  un- 
wonted life  and  vigor,  giving  new  expansion  to  every 
human  capacity,  and  new  elevation  to  every  human 
aim.  And  society  at  last  shall  rejoice,  like  a  strong 
man,  to  run  its  race. 

Imagination  toils  to  picture  the  boundless  good  that 
will  be  achieved.  As  War  with  its  deeds  is  infinitely 
evil  and  accursed,  so  will  this  triumph  of  Permanent 
Peace  be  infinitely  beneficent  and  blessed.  Sometliing 
of  its  consequences  M^ere  seen,  in  prophetic  vision,  even 
by  that  incarnate  Spirit  of  War,  NajDoleon  Bonaparte, 
when,  from   his   island-prison   of   St.  Helena,  looking 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  229 

back  upon  his  mistaken  career,  lie  was  led  to  confess 
the  True  Grandeur  of  Peace.  Out  of  his  mouth  let  its 
praise  be  spoken.  "  I  had  the  project,"  he  said,  mourn- 
fully regretting  the  opportunity  he  had  lost,  "  at  the 
general  peace  of  Amiens,  of  bringing  each  Power  to  an 
immense  reduction  of  its  standmg  armies.  I  wished 
a  European  Institute,  with  European  prizes,  to  direct, 
associate,  and  bring  together  all  the  learned  societies  of 
Europe.  Then,  perhaps,  through  the  universal  spread  of 
light,  it  might  be  permitted  to  anticipate  for  the  great 
European  Family  the  establishment  of  an  American 
Congress,  or  an  Amphictyonic  Council;  and  what  a 
perspective  then  of  strength,  of  greatness,  of  happiness, 
of  prosperity  !  What  a  sublime  and  magnificent  spec- 
tacle ! "  1 

Such  is  our  cause.  In  transcendent  influence,  it  em- 
braces human  beneficence  in  all  its  forms.  It  is  the 
comprehensive  charity,  enfolding  all  the  charities  of  aU. 
None  so  vast  as  to  be  above  its  protection,  none  so 
lowly  as  not  to  feel  its  care.  Eeligion,  Knowledge, 
Freedom,  Virtue,  Happiness,  in  all  their  manifold  forms, 
depend  upon  Peace.  Sustained  by  Peace,  they  lean 
upon  the  Everlasting  Arm.  And  this  is  not  aU.  Law, 
Order,  Government,  derive  from  Peace  new  sanctions. 
Nor  can  they  attain  to  that  complete  dominion  wliich 
is  our  truest  safeguard,  until,  by  the  overthrow  of  the 
War  System,  they  comprehend  the  Commonwealth  of 
Nations,  — 

"  And  Sovereign  law,  the  world's  collected  loiU, 
O'er  thrones  and  globes  elate, 
Sits  empress,  crowning  good,  repressing  ill."^ 

1  Las  Cases,  Memorial  de  Sainte-H^lfene,  November,  1816. 

2  Sir  William  Jones,  Ode  in  Imitation  of  Alcseus. 


230  WAR   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

In  the  name  of  Religion  profaned,  of  Knowledge  mis- 
applied and  perverted,  of  Freedom  crushed  to  earth,  of 
Virtue  dethroned,  of  human  Happiness  violated,  in  tlie 
name  of  Law,  Order,  and  Government,  I  call  upon  you 
for  union  to  establish  the  supremacy  of  Peace.  There 
must  be  no  hesitation.  With  the  lips  you  confess 
the  infinite  evil  of  War.  Are  you  in  earnest  ?  Ac- 
tion must  follow  confession.  All  must  unite  to  ren- 
der the  recurrence  of  this  evil  impossible.  Science 
and  Humanity  everywhere  put  forth  aU  possible  energy 
against  cholera  and  pestilence.  Wliy  not  e(|ual  energy 
against  an  evil  more  fearful  than  cholera  or  pestilence  ? 
Each  man  must  consider  the  cause  his  own.  Let  him 
animate  his  neighbors.  Let  him  seek,  in  every  proper 
way,  to  influence  the  rulers  of  the  Nations,  and,  above 
all,  the  rulers  of  this  ha})py  land. 

Tlie  old,  the  middle-aged,  and  the  young  must  com- 
bine in  a  common  cause.  The  pulpit,  the  school,  the 
college,  and  the  public  street  must  speak  for  it.  Preach 
it,  minister  of  the  Prince  of  Peace !  let  it  never  be 
forgotten  in  conversation,  sermon,  or  prayer ;  nor  any 
longer  seek,  by  specious  theory,  to  reconcile  the  mon- 
strous War  System  Avith  the  precepts  of  Christ !  Instil 
it,  teacher  of  childhood  and  youth !  in  the  early  thoughts 
of  your  precious  charge  ;  exhibit  the  wickedness  of  War 
and  the  beauty  of  Peace ;  let  your  warnings  sink  deep 
among  those  purifying  and  strengthening  influences 
which  ripen  into  true  manhood.  Scholar !  Avrite  it  in 
your  books,  so  that  all  shall  read  it.  Poet !  sing  it,  so 
that  all  shall  love  it.  Let  the  interests  of  commerce, 
whose  threads  of  golden  tissue  interknit  the  Nations, 
enlist  the  traffickers  of  the  earth  in  its  behalf.  And 
you,  servant  of  the  law  !   sharer  of  my  own  peculiar 


COMMONWEALTH    OF   NATIONS.  231 

toils,  mindful  that  the  law  is  silent  in  the  midst  of 
arms,  join  to  preserve,  uphold,  and  extend  its  sway. 
Eemember,  politician  !  that  our  cause  is  too  universal 
to  become  the  exclusive  possession  of  any  political  par- 
ty, or  to  be  confined  within  any  geographical  limits. 
See  to  it,  statesman  and  ruler !  that  the  principles  of 
Peace  are  as  a  cloud  by  day  and  a  pillar  of  fire  by 
night.  Let  the  Abolition  of  War,  and  the  Overthrow  of 
the  War  System,  with  the  Disarming  of  the  Nations,  be 
your  guiding  star.  Be  this  your  pious  diplomacy  !  Be 
this  your  lofty  Cluistian  statesmanship  ! 

As  a  measure  simple  and  practical,  obnoxious  to  no 
objection,  promising  incalculable  good,  and  presenting  an 
immediate  opportunity  for  labor,  I  would  invite  your 
cooperation  in  the  effort  now  making  at  home  and 
abroad  to  establish  Arbitration  Treaties.  If  in  tliis 
scheme  there  is  a  tendency  to  avert  War,  —  if,  through 
its  agency,  we  may  hope  to  prevent  a  single  war,  —  and 
who  can  doubt  that  such  may  be  its  result  ?  —  we  ought 
to  adopt  it.  Take  the  initiative.  Try  it,  and  nations 
will  never  return  to  the  barbarous  system.  Tliey  will 
begin  to  learn  War  no  more.  Let  it  be  our  privilege  to 
volunteer  the  proposal.  Thus  shall  we  inaugurate  Per- 
manent Peace  in  the  diplomacy  of  the  world.  Nor  should 
we  wait  for  other  governments.  In  a  cause  so  holy,  no 
government  should  wait  for  another.  Let  us  take  the 
lead.  Let  our  republic,  powerful  child  of  Freedom,  go 
forth,  the  Evangelist  of  Peace.  Let  her  offer  to  the 
world  a  Magna  Charta  of  International  Law,  by  which 
the  crime  of  War  shall  be  forever  abolished. 

Wliile  thus  encouraging  you  in  behalf  of  Universal 
Peace,  the  odious  din  of  War,  mingled  with  pathetic 


232  WAR   SYSTEM    OF   THE 

appeals  for  Freedom,  reaches  us  from  struggling  Italy, 
from  convulsed  Germany,  from  aroused  and  triumphant 
Hungary.  At  bidding  of  the  Eussian  Autocrat,  the 
populous  Xorth  threatens  to  pour  its  multitudes  upon 
the  scene ;  and  a  portentous  cloud,  charged  with  "  red 
lightning  and  impetuous  rage,"  hangs  over  the  whole 
continent  of  Europe,  which  echoes  again  to  the  tread 
of  mustering  squadrons.  Alas  !  must  this  dismal  work 
be  renewed  ?  Can  Freedom  be  born,  can  nations  be 
regenerated,  only  through  baptism  of  blood  ?  In  our 
aspirations,  I  would  not  be  blind  to  the  teachings  of 
History,  or  to  the  actual  condition  of  men,  so  long  ac- 
customed to  brute  force,  that,  to  their  imperfect  natures, 
it  seems  the  only  means  by  which  injustice  can  be 
crushed.  With  sadness  I  confess  that  we  cannot  ex- 
pect the  domestic  repose  of  nations,  until  t;yTanny  is 
overthrown,  and  the  principles  of  self-government  are 
established  ;  especially  do  I  not  expect  imperturbable 
peace  in  Italy,  so  long  as  foreign  Austria,  with  insolent 
iron  heel,  continues  to  tread  any  part  of  that  beautiful 
land.  But  whatever  may  be  the  fate  of  the  present 
crisis,  whether  it  be  doomed  to  the  horrors  of  j^rolonged 
strife,  or  shall  soon  brighten  into  the  radiance  of  endur- 
ing concord,  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  Nations  are  gravi- 
tating, with  resistless  might,  e%'en  through  fire  and  blood, 
into  peaceful  forms  of  social  order,  where  the  War  Sys- 
tem will  cease  to  be  known. 

Nay,  from  the  experience  of  this  hour  I  draw  the 
auguries  of  Permanent  Peace.  Not  in  any  internation- 
al strife,  not  in  duel  between  nation  and  nation,  not  in 
selfish  conflict  of  ruler  with  ruler,  not  in  the  unwise 
"  game "  of  War,  as  played  by  king  witli  king,  do 
we  find  the  origin  of  present  commotions,  "with  fear 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  233 

of  change  perplexing  monarchs."  It  is  to  overturn 
the  enforced  rule  of  military  power,  to  crush  the  tyr- 
anny of  armies,  and  to  supplant  unjust  government, — 
whose  only  stay  is  physical  force,  and  not  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed,  —  that  the  people  have  risen  in 
mighty  madness.  So  doing,  they  wage  a  battle  where 
all  our  sympathies  must  be  with  Freedom,  while,  in 
sorrow  at  the  unwelcome  combat,  we  confess  that  vic- 
tory is  only  less  mournful  than  defeat.  Through  all 
these  bloody  mists  the  eye  of  Faith  discerns  the  as- 
cending sun,  struggling  to  shoot  its  life-giving  beams 
upon  the  outspread  earth,  teeming  with  the  grander 
products  of  a  new  civilization.  Everywhere  salute  us 
the  signs  of  Progress ;  and  the  Promised  Land  smiles 
at  the  new  epoch.  His  heart  is  cold,  his  eye  is  dull, 
who  does  not  perceive  the  change.  Vainly  has  he  read 
the  history  of  the  Past,  vainly  does  he  feel  the  irrepres- 
sible movement  of  the  Present.  Man  has  waded  through 
a  Eed  Sea  of  blood,  and  for  forty  centuries  wandered 
through  a  wilderness  of  wretchedness  and  error,  but  he 
stands  at  last  on  Pisgah :  like  the  adventurous  Spaniard, 
he  has  wearily  climbed  the  mountain  heights,  whence 
he  may  descry  the  vast,  unbroken  Pacific  Sea ;  like 
the  hardy  Portuguese,  he  is  sure  to  double  this  fearful 
Cape  of  Storms,  destined  ever  afterwards  to  be  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope.  I  would  not  seem  too  confident. 
I  know  not,  that,  in  any  brief  period,  nations,  like 
kindred  drops,  will  commingle  into  one,  —  that,  like  the 
banyan- trees  of  the  East,  they  will  interlace  and  inter- 
lock, until  there  are  no  longer  separate  trees,  but  one 
united  wood, 

"  a  pillared  shade 
High  overarched,  and  echoing  walks  between  "  ; 


234  WAR   SYSTEM   OF  THE 

but  I  rest  assured,  that,  without  renouncing  any  essential 
qualities  of  individuality  or  independence,  they  may  yet, 
even  in  our  own  day,  arrange  themselves  in  harmony ; 
as  magnetized  iron  rings,  —  from  which  Plato  once  bor- 
rowed an  image,  —  under  the  influence  of  potent  unseen 
attraction,*while  preserving  each  its  own  peculiar  form, 
cohere  in  a  united  chain  of  independent  circles.  From 
the  birth  of  this  new  order  will  spring  not  only  inter- 
national repose,  but  domestic  quiet  also  ;  and  Peace  will 
become  the  permanent  rule  of  civilization.  The  stone 
will  be  rolled  away  from  the  sepulchre  in  which  men 
have  laid  their  Lord,  and  we  shall  hear  the  new-risen 
voice,  saying,  in  words  of  blessed  truth,  "  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

Here  I  might  fitly  close.  Though  admonished  that  I 
have  already  occupied  more  of  your  time  than  I  could 
venture  to  claim,  except  for  the  cause,  I  cannot  forbear 
to  consider,  for  a  brief  moment,  yet  one  other  topic, 
which  I  have  left  thus  far  untouched,  partly  because  it 
is  not  directly  connected  with  the  main  argument,  and 
therefore  seemed  inappropriate  to  any  earlier  stage,  and 
partly  because  I  wished  to  impress  it  with  my  last  words. 
I  refer  to  that  greatest,  most  preposterous,  and  most  irre- 
ligious of  earthly  vanities,  the  monstrous  reflection  of 
War,  —  Military  Glory. 

Let  me  not  disguise  the  truth.  Too  true  it  is  that  this 
vanity  is  still  cherished  by  mankind,  —  that  it  is  still  an 
object  of  ambition,  —  that  men  follow  War,  and  count 
its  pursuit  "  honorable,"  —  that  feats  of  brute  force  are 
heralded  " brilliant,"  —  and  that  a  yet  pre\ailing  public 
opinion  animates  unreflecting  mortals  to  "  seek  the  bub- 
ble reputation  even  in  the  cannon's  mouth."    Too  true  it 


COMMONWEALTH   OF  NATIONS.  235 

is  that  nations  persevere  in  offering  praise  and  thanks- 
giving—  such  as  no  labors  of  Beneficence  can  achie\e 
—  to  the  chief  whose  hands  are  red  with  the  blood  of 
his  fellow-men. 

Whatever  the  usage  of  the  world,  whether  during  tlie 
long  and  dreary  Past  or  in  the  yet  barbarous  Present, 
it  must  be  clear  to  all  who  confront  this  question  with 
candor,  and  do  not  turn  away  from  the  blaze  of  truth, 
that  any  glory  from  bloody  strife  among  God's  children 
must  be  fugitive,  evanescent,  unreal.  It  is  the  offspring 
of  a  deluded  public  sentiment,  and  will  disappear,  as  we 
learn  to  analyze  its  elements  and  apjjreciate  its  charac- 
ter. Too  long  has  mankind  worshipped  what  St.  Augus- 
tine called  the  splendid  vices,  neglecting  the  simple  vir- 
tues, —  too  long  cultivated  the  '  flaunting  and  noxious 
weeds,  careless  of  the  golden  corn,  —  too  long  been  in- 
sensible to  that  commanding  law  and  sacred  example 
which  rebuke  all  tlie  pretensions  of  military  glory. 

Look  face  to  face  at  this  "glory."  Study  it  in  the 
growing  illumination  of  history.  Eegarding  War  as  an 
established  Arbitrament,  for  the  adjudication  of  contro- 
versies among  nations,  —  like  the  Petty  Wars  of  an  ear- 
lier period  between  cities,  principalities,  and  provinces, 
or  like  the  Trial  by  Battle  between  individuals,  —  the 
conclusion  is  irresistible,  that  an  enlightened  civiliza- 
tion, when  the  world  has  reached  that  Unity  to  which 
it  tends,  must  condemn  the  partakers  in  its  duels,  and 
their  vaunted  achievements,  precisely  as  we  now  con- 
demn the  partakers  in  those  wretched  contests  which 
disfigure  the  commencement  of  modern  history.  The 
prowess  of  the  individual  is  forgotten  in  disgust  at  an 
inglorious  barbarism. 

Observe  this  "  glory  "  in  the  broad  sunshine  of  Chris- 


236  WAR   SYSTEM    OF  THE 

tian  truth.  In  all  ages,  even  in  Heathen  lands,  there 
has  been  a  peculiar  reverence  for  the  relation  of  Brother- 
hood. Feuds  among  brothers,  from  that  earliest  "  mu- 
tual-murdering "  conflict  beneath  the  walls  of  Thebes, 
have  been  accounted  ghastly  and  abhorred,  never  to  be 
mentioned  without  a  shudder.  This  sentiment  was  re- 
vived in  modern  times,  and  men  sought  to  extend  the 
circle  of  its  influence.  Warriors,  like  Du  Guesclin,  re- 
joiced to  hail  each  otlier  as  brothers.  Chivalry  delighted 
in  fraternities  of  arms  sealed  by  vow  and  solenniity. 
According  to  curious  and  savage  custom,  valiant  knights 
were  bled  together,  that  their  blood,  as  it  spurted  forth, 
might  intermingle,  and  thus  constitute  them  of  one  hlood, 
which  was  drunk  by  each.  So  did  the  powerful  emperor 
of  Constantinople  confirm  an  alliance  of  friendship  with 
a  neighbor  king.  The  two  monarchs  drank  of  each 
other's  blood ;  and  then  their  attendants,  following  the 
princely  example,  caught  their  own  flowing  life  in  a 
wine-cup,  and  quaffed  a  mutual  pledge,  saying,  "  We  are 
brothers,  of  one  hlood."  ^ 

By  such  profane  devices  men  sought  to  establish  that 
relation,  whose  beauty  tliey  perceived,  though  they  failed 
to  discern,  that,  by  the  ordinance  of  God,  without  any 
human  stratagem,  it  justly  comprehended  all  their  fel- 
low-men.    In  the  midst  of  Judaism,  M^hich  hated  Gen- 

1  Du  Cange,  Dissertations  sur  THistoire  de  Saint  Louys  par  Jean  Sire  de 
Joinville,  Diss.  XXI.    Ibid. :  Pctitot,  M<^moires  relatifs  a  I'Histoire  de  France, 
1™  Sc^rie.  Tom.  III.  p.  349.     Sainte-Palaye,  Mc^moires  sur  V  Ancienne  Che- 
valerie,  Part.  III.  Tom.  I.  p.  225.     The  same  attempt  at  Brotherhood  ap- 
pears in  the  "  Loka-Lenna,  or  Strife  of  Loc,"  quoted  by  Sir  Walter  Scott 
in  his  Notes  to  the  Metrical  Romance  of  "  Sir  Tristrem,"  p.  350:  — 
"  Father  of  Slaughter,  Odin,  say, 
Remember'st  not  the  former  day, 
When  in  the  ruddy  goblet  stood. 
For  mutual  drink,  our  blended  blood?  " 


COMMONWEALTH    OF   NATIONS.  237 

tiles,  Christianity  proclaimed  love  to  all  mankind,  and 
distinctly  declared  that  God  had  made  of  one  Mood  all 
the  nations  of  men.  As  if  to  keep  this  sublime  truth 
ever  present,  the  disciples  were  taught,  in  the  simjile 
prayer  of  the  Saviour,  to  address  God  as  Father  in 
heaven,  —  not  in  phrase  of  exclusive  worship,  "  m?/ 
Father,"  but  in  those  other  words  of  peculiar  Chris- 
tian import,  "  our  Father,"  —  with  the  petition,  not 
merely  to  "  forgive  me  my  trespasses,"  but  with  the 
diviner  prayer,  to  "  forgive  us  our  trespasses  "  :  thus, 
in  the  solitude  of  the  closet,  recognizing  all  alike  as 
children  of  God,  and  embracing  all  alike  in  the  peti- 
tion for  mercy. 

Confessing  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  and  the  consequent 
Brotherhood  of  Man,  we  find  a  divine  standard  of  un- 
questionable accuracy.  No  brother  can  win  "glory" 
from  the  death  of  a  brother.  Cain  won  no  "glory," 
when  he  slew  Abel ;  nor  would  Abel  have  won  "  glory," 
had  he,  in  strictest  self-defence,  succeeded  in  slaying  the 
wicked  Cain.  The  soul  recoils  from  praise  or  honor,  as 
the  meed  of  any  such  melancholy  triumph.  And  what 
is  true  of  a  conflict  between  two  brothers  is  equally  true 
of  a  conflict  between  many.  How  can  an  army  win 
"glory"  by  dealing  death  or  defeat  to  an  army  of  its 
brothers  ? 

The  ancient  Eomans,  not  knowing  this  comprehensive 
relation,  and  recognizing  only  the  exclusive  fellowship 
of  a  common  country,  accounted  civil  war  fratricidal, 
whose  opposing  forces,  even  under  well-loved  names 
of  the  Eepublic,  were  impious ;  and  then,  by  unerring 
logic,  these  masters  in  War  constantly  refused  "  honor," 
"thanksgiving,"  or  "triumph,"  to  the  conquering  chief 
M^hose    sword    had   been  employed    against  felloiv-citi- 


238  WAK   SYSTEM   OF   THE 

zens,  though  traitors  and  rebels.  As  the  Brotherhood 
of  Man  is  practically  recognized,  it  becomes  impossible 
to  restrict  the  feeling  within  any  exclusive  circle  of 
country,  and  to  set  up  an  unchristian  distinction  of 
honor  between  civil  war  and  international  war.  As  all 
7nen  are  brothers,  so,  hy  irresistible  consequence,  ALL  WAR 
MUST  BE  FRATRICIDAL.  And  can  "  glory "  come  from 
fratricide  ?  None  can  hesitate  in  answer,  unless  fatally 
imbued  with  the  Heathen  rage  of  nationality,  that  made 
the  Venetians  declare  themselves  Venetians  first  and 
Christians  afterwards. 

Tell  me  not  of  homage  yet  offered  to  the  military 
chieftain.  Tell  me  not  of  "  glory  "  from  War.  Tell 
me  not  of  "  honor  "  or  "  fame  "  on  its  murderous  fields. 
All  is  vanity.  It  is  a  blood-red  phantom.  They  who 
strive  after  it,  Ixion-like,  embrace  a  cloud.  Though 
seeming  to  fill  the  heavens,  cloaking  tlie  stars,  it  must, 
like  the  vapors  of  earth,  pass  away.  Milton  likens  the 
contests  of  the  Heptarchy  to  "the  wars  of  kites  or  crows 
flocking  and  fighting  in  the  air."^  But  God,  and  the 
exalted  judgment  of  the  Future,  must  regard  all  our 
bloody  feuds  in  the  same  likeness, —  finding  Napoleon 
and  Alexander,  so  far  as  engaged  in  War,  only  monster 
crows  and  kites.  Thus  must  it  be,  as  mankind  ascend 
from  the  thrall  of  l)rutish  passion.  Nobler  aims,  by 
nobler  means,  will  fill  the  soul.  Tliere  will  be  a  new 
standard  of  excellence  ;  and  honor,  divorced  from  blood, 
will  become  the  inseparable  attendant  of  good  works 
alone.  Far  better,  then,  even  in  the  judgment  of  this 
world,  to  haA'e  been  a  doorkeeper  in  the  house  of  Peace 
than  tlie  proudest  dweller  in  the  tents  of  War. 

1  History  of  England,  Book  IV.:  Prose  Works  (ed.  Symmons),  Vol.  IV. 
p.  158. 


COMMONWEALTH   OF   NATIONS.  239 

There  is  a  jiious  legend  of  the  early  Church,  that  the 
Saviour  left  his  image  miraculously  impressed  upon  a 
napkin  which  had  touched  liis  countenance.  The  nap- 
kin was  lost,  and  men  attempted  to  supply  the  divine 
lineaments  from  the  Heathen  models  of  Jupiter  and 
Apollo.  But  the  true  image  of  Christ  is  not  lost. 
Clearer  than  in  the  venerated  napkin,  better  than  in 
color  or  marble  of  choicest  art,  it  appears  in  each  virtu- 
ous deed,  in  every  act  of  self-sacrifice,  in  all  magnani- 
mous toil,  in  any  recognition  of  Human  Brotherhood. 
It  will  be  supremely  manifest,  in  unimagined  loveliness 
and  serenity,  when  the  Commonwealth  of  Nations,  con- 
fessing the  True  Grandeur  of  Peace,  renounces  the  War 
System,  and  dedicates  to  Beneficence  the  comprehensive 
energies  so  fatally  absorbed  in  its  suj)port.  Then,  at 
last,  will  it  be  seen,  there  can  he  no  Peace  that  is  not  lion- 
oraMe,  and  no  War  that  is  not  dishonoraUe. 


I 
I 


THE 

DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY, 

WITH    ITS    LESSON    TO    CIVILIZATION. 

Lecture  in  the  Music  Hall,  Boston,  October  26,  1870. 


"  When  kings  make  war, 
No  law  betwixt  two  sovereigns  can  decide. 
But  that  of  arms,  where  Fortune  is  the  judge, 
Soldiers  the  lawyers,  and  the  Bar  the  field." 

Dkyden,  Love  TriumpJumt,  Act  L  So.  1. 


LECTURE. 


ME.  PEESIDENT,  —  I  am  to  speak  of  the  Duel 
between  France  and  Germany,  with  its  Lesson  to 
Civilization.  In  calling  the  terrible  war  now  waging 
a  Duel,  I  might  content  myself  with  classical  author- 
ity, Duellum  being  a  well-known  Latin  word  for  War. 
The  historian  Livy  makes  a  Eoman  declare  that  affairs 
are  to  be  settled  "  by  a  pure  and  pious  duel " ;  ^  the 
dramatist  Plautus  has  a  character  in  one  of  his  plays 
who  obtains  great  riches  "  by  the  duelling  art, "  ^  mean- 
ing the  art  of  war ;  and  Horace,  the  exquisite  master 
of  language,  hails  the  age  of  Augustus  with  the'  Temple 
of  Janus  closed  and  "  free  from  duels,"  ^  meaning  at 
peace,  —  for  then  only  was  that  famous  temple  shut. 

WAR  UNDER  THE  LAW  OF  NATIONS  A  DUEL. 

But  no  classical  authority  is  needed  for  this  desig- 
nation. War,  as  conducted  under  International  Law, 
between  two  organized  nations,  is  in  all  respects  a 
duel,  according  to  the  just  signification  of  this  word,  — • 
differing  from  that  between  two  individuals  only  in  the 
number  of  combatants.  The  variance  is  of  proportion 
merely,  each  nation  being  an  individual  who  appeals  to 
the  sword  as  Arbiter ;  and  in  each  case  the  combat  is 

1  "Puro  pioque  duello." — Historice,  Lib.  I.  cap.  32. 

2  "Arte  duellica."  —  Epidicus,  Act.  III.  Sc.  iv.  14. 
8  "Vacuum  duellis."  —  Carmina,  Lib.  IV.  xv.  8. 

243 


244   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

subject  to  rules  constituting  a  code  by  which  the  two 
parties  are  bound.  For  long  years  before  civilization 
prevailed,  the  code  governing  the  duel  between  individ- 
uals was  as  fixed  and  minute  as  that  which  governs  the 
larger  duel  between  nations,  and  the  duel  itself  was 
simply  a  mode  of  deciding  questions  between  individu- 
als. In  presenting  this  comparison  I  expose  myself  to 
criticism  only  from  those  who  have  not  considered  this 
interesting  subject  in  the  light  of  history  and  of  reason. 
The  parallel  is  complete.  Modern  war  is  the  duel  of 
the  Dark  Ages,  magnified,  amplified,  extended  so  as  to 
embrace  nations ;  nor  is  it  any  less  a  duel  because  the 
combat  is  quickened  and  sustained  by  the  energies  of 
self-defence,  or  because,  when  a  champion  falls  and  lies 
on  the  ground,  he  is  brutally  treated.  An  authentic 
instance  illustrates  such  a  duel ;  and  I  bring  before  you 
the  very  pink  of  chivalry,  the  Chevalier  Bayard,  "  the 
knight  without  fear  and  without  reproach,"  who,  after 
combat  in  a  chosen  field,  succeeded  by  a  feint  in  driving 
his  weapon  four  fingers  deep  into  the  throat  of  his  ad- 
versary, and  then,  rolling  with  him,  gasj)ing  and  strug- 
gling, on  the  ground,  thrust  his  dagger  into  the  nostrils 
of  the  fallen  victim,  exclaiming,  "  Surrender,  or  you  are 
a  dead  man!" — a  speech  which  seemed  superfluous; 
for  the  second  cried  out,  "  He  is  dead  already ;  you  have 
conquered."  Then  did  Bayard,  brightest  among  the 
Sons  of  War,  drag  his  dead  enemy  from  the  field,  cry- 
ing, "  Have  I  done  enough  ? "  ^  Now,  because  the  brave 
knight  saw  fit  to  do  these  things,  the  combat  was  not 
changed  in  original  character.     It  was  a  duel  at  the 

1  La  tresjoyeuse,  plaisante  et  recreative  Hystoire,  coniposie  par  le  Loyal 
Serviteur,  ties  Faiz,  Gestes,  Triunijilies  et  Prouesses  du  Boii  Chevalier  sans 
Paour  et  sans  Reprouche,  le  Gentil  Seigneur  ile  Bayart  :  Petitot,  Collection 
des  M^nioirea  relatifs  a  I'Histoire  de  France,  Tom.  XV.  pp.  241,  242. 


WAR  UNDER  THE  LAW  OF  NATIONS  A  DUEL.   245 

beginning  and  at  the  end.  Indeed,  the  brutality  with 
which  it  closed  was  the  natural  incident  of  a  duel.  A 
combat  once  begun  opens  the  way  to  violence,  and  the 
conqueror  too  often  surrenders  to  the  Evil  Spirit,  as 
Bayard  in  his  unworthy  barbarism. 

In  likening  war  between  nations  to  the  duel,  I  fol- 
low not  only  reason,  but  authority  also.  No  better 
lawyer  can  be  named  in  the  long  history  of  the  English 
bar  than  John  Selden,  whose  learning  was  equalled  only 
by  his  large  intelligence.  In  those  conversations  which 
under  the  name  of  "  Table-Talk "  continue  still  to  in- 
struct, the  wise  counsellor,  after  saying  that  the  Church 
allowed  the  duel  anciently,  and  that  in  the  public  litur- 
gies there  were  prayers  appointed  for  duellists  to  say, 
keenly  inquires,  "  But  whether  is  this  lawful  ? "  And 
then  he  answers,  "  If  you  grant  any  war  lawful,  I  make 
no  doubt  but  to  convince  it."  ^  Selden  regarded  the 
simple  duel  and  the  larger  war  as  governed  by  the  same 
rule.  Of  course  the  exercise  of  force  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  rebellion,  or  in  the  maintenance  of  laws,  stands 
on  a  different  principle,  being  in  its  nature  a  constab- 
ulary proceeding,  which  cannot  be  confounded  with  the 
duel.  But  my  object  is  not  to  question  the  lawfulness 
of  war ;  I  would  simply  present  an  image,  enabling  you 
to  see  the  existing  war  in  its  true  character. 

The  duel  in  its  simplest  form  is  between  two  individ- 
uals. In  early  ages  it  was  known  sometimes  as  the 
Judicial  Combat,  and  sometimes  as  Trial  by  Battle. 
Not  only  points  of  honor,  but  titles  to  land,  grave  ques- 
tions of  law,  and  even  the  subtilties  of  theology,  were 
referred  to  this  arbitrament,  ^ — just   as   now  kindred 

1  Table-Talk,  ed.  Singer,  (London,  1856,)  p.  47,  — Duel. 

2  Robertson,  History  of  the  Reign  of  Charles  V.  :  View  of  the  Progress 
of  Society  in  Europe,  Section  L  Note  XXIL 


246      THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE   AND   GERMANY. 

issues  between  nations  are  referred  to  Trial  by  Battle ; 
and  the  early  rules  governing  the  duel  are  reproduced 
in  the  Laws  of  War  established  by  nations  to  govern 
the  great  Trial  by  Battle.  Ascending  from  the  indi- 
vidual to  corporations,  guilds,  villages,  towns,  counties, 
provinces,  we  find  that  for  a  long  period  each  of  these 
bodies  exercised  what  was  called  "  the  Eight  of  War." 
The  history  of  France  and  Germany  shows  how  reluct- 
antly this  mode  of  trial  yielded  to  the  forms  of  reason 
and  order.  France,  earlier  than  Germany,  ordained 
"  Trial  by  Proofs,"  and  eliminated  the  duel  from  judi- 
cial proceedings,  this  important  step  being  followed  by 
the  gradual  amalgamation  of  discordant  provinces  in 
the  powerful  unity  of  the  Nation,  —  so  that  Brittany 
and  Normandy,  Franche-Comte  and  Burgundy,  Pro- 
vence and  Dauphiny,  Gascony  and  Languedoc,  with  the 
rest,  became  the  United  States  of  France,  or,  if  you 
please,  France.  In  Germany  the  change  was  slower; 
and  here  the  duel  exhibits  its  most  curious  instances. 
Not  only  feudal  chiefs,  but  associations  of  tradesmen 
and  of  domestics  sent  defiance  to  each  other,  and  some- 
times to  whole  cities,  on  pretences  trivial  as  those 
which  liave  been  the  occasion  of  defiance  from  nation 
to  nation.  There  still  remain  to  us  Declarations  of  War 
by  a  Lord  of  Frauenstein  against  the  free  city  of  Frank- 
fort, because  a  young  lady  of  tlie  city  refused  to  dance 
with  his  uncle,  —  by  the  baker  and  domestics  of  the 
Margrave  of  Baden  against  Esslingen,  lieutlingen,  and 
other  imperial  cities,  —  by  the  baker  of  the  Count  Pal- 
atine Louis  again.st  the  cities  of  Augsburg,  Ulm,  and 
Eottweil,  —  by  the  slioe-blacks  of  the  University  of 
Leipsic  against  tlie  provost  and  other  members,  —  and 
by  the  cook  of  Eppstein,  with  his  scullions,  dairy-maids, 


I 


WAR   UNDER   THE   LAW   OF   NATIONS   A   DUEL.       247 

and  dish-washers,  against  Otho,  Count  of  Sohns.^  This 
prevalence  of  the  duel  aroused  the  Emperor  Maximil- 
ian, who  at  the  Diet  of  Worms  put  forth  an  ordinance 
abolishing  the  right  or  liberty  of  Private  War,  and  in- 
stituting a  Supreme  Tribunal  for  the  determination  of 
controversies  without  appeal  to  the  duel,  and  the  whole 
long  list  of  duellists,  whether  corporate  or  individual, 
including  nobles,  bakers,  shoe-blacks,  and  cooks,  was 
brought  under  its  pacific  rule.  Unhappily  the  benefi- 
cent reform  stopped  half-way,  and  here  Germany  was 
less  fortunate  than  France.  The  great  provinces  were 
left  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  barbarous  independence,  with 
the  "right"  to  fight  each  other.  The  duel  continued 
their  established  arbiter,  until  at  last,  in  1815,  by  the 
Act  of  Union  constituting  the  Confederation  or  United 
States  of  Germany,  each  sovereignty  gave-^ap  the  right 
of  war  with  its  confederates,  setting  an  example  to  the 
larger  nations.  The  terms  of  this  important  stipulation, 
marking  a  stage  in  German  unity,  were  as  follows :  — 

"The  members  of  the  Confederation  further  bind  them- 
selves under  no  pretext  to  make  war  upon  one  another,  or  to 
pursue  their  differences  by  force  of  arms,  but  to  submit  them 
to  the  Diet."  ^ 

Better  words  could  not  be  found  for  the  United 
States  of  Europe,  in  the  establishment  of  that  Great 
Era  when  the  Duel  shall  cease  to  be  the  recognized 
Arbiter  of  Nations. 

With  this  exposition,  which  I  hope  is  not  too  long, 
it  is  easy  to  see   how  completely  a  war  between  two 

1  Coxe,  History  of  the  House  of  Austria,  (London,  1820,)  Ch.  XIX.,  VoL 
L  p.  378. 

2  Acta  pour  la  Constitution  federative  de  I'Alleniagne  du  8  Juin  1815, 
Art.  11  :  Archives  Diplomatiques,  (Stuttgart  et  Tubingue,  1821-36,)  VoL 
IV.  p.  15. 


248      THE   DUEL  BETWEEN   FRANCE  AND   GERMANY. 

nations  is  a  duel,  —  and,  yet  further,  how  essential  it  is 
to  that  assured  peace  which  civilization  requires,  that 
the  duel,  which  is  no  longer  tolerated  as  arbiter  be- 
tween individuals,  between  towns,  between  counties, 
between  provinces,  should  cease  to  be  tolerated  as  such 
between  nations.  Take  our  own  country,  for  instance. 
In  a  controversy  between  towns,  the  local  law  provides 
a  judicial  tribunal ;  so  also  in  a  controversy  between 
counties.  Ascending  still  higher,  suppose  a  controversy 
between  two  States  of  our  Union;  the  National  Consti- 
tution establishes  a  judicial  tribunal,  being  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.  But  at  the  next  stage 
there  is  a  change.  Let  the  controversy  arise  between 
two  nations,  and  the  Supreme  Law,  which  is  the  Law 
of  Nations,  establishes,  not  a  judicial  tribunal,  but  the 
duel,  as  arbiter.  What  is  true  of  our  country  is  true  of 
other  countries  where  civilization  has  a  foothold,  and 
especially  of  France  and  Germany.  The  duel,  though 
abolished  as  arbiter  at  home,  is  continued  as  arbiter 
abroad.  And  since  it  is  recognized  by  International 
Law  and  subjected  to  a  code,  it  is  in  all  respects  an 
Institution.  War  is  an  institution  sanctioned  by  In- 
ternational Law,  as  Slavery,  wherever  it  exists,  is  an 
institution  sanctioned  by  Municipal  Law.  But  this 
institution  is  nothing  but  the  duel  of  the  Dark  Ages, 
prolonged  into  this  generation,  and  showing  itself  in 
portentous  barbarism. 

WHY  THIS   PARALLEL  NOW? 

Therefore  am  I  right,  when  I  call  the  existing  com- 
bat between  France  and  Germany  a  Duel.  I  beg  you 
to  believe  that  I  do  this  with  no  idle  purpose  of  illus- 


SUDDENNESS   OF  THIS   WAR.  249 

tration  or  criticism,  but  because  1  would  prepare  the 
way  for  a  proper  comprehension  of  the  remedy  to  be 
applied.  How  can  this  terrible  controversy  be  adjusted  { 
I  see  no  practical  method,  which  shall  reconcile  the 
sensibilities  of  France  with  the  guaranties  due  to  Ger- 
many, short  of  a  radical  change  in  the  War  System  it- 
self That  Security  for  the  Future  which  Germany 
may  justly  exact  can  be  obtained  in  no  way  so  well  as 
by  the  disarmament  of  France,  to  be  followed  naturally 
by  the  disarmament  of  other  nations,  and  the  substitu- 
tion of  some  peaceful  tribunal  for  the  existing  Trial  by 
Battle.  Any  dismemberment,  or  curtailment  of  terri- 
tory, will  be  poor  and  inadequate ;  for  it  will  leave 
behind  a  perpetual  sting.  Something  better  must  be 
done. 

SUDDENNESS   OF   THIS   WAR. 

Never  in  history  has  so  great  a  calamity  descended 
so  suddenly  upon  the  Human  Family,  unless  we  except 
the  earthquake  toppling  down  cities  and  submerging  a 
whole  coast  in  a  single  night.  Bat  how  small  all  that 
has  ensued  from  any  such  convulsion,  compared  with 
the  desolation  and  destruction  already  produced  by  tliis 
war !  From  the  first  murmur  to  the  outbreak  was  a 
brief  moment  of  time,  as  between  the  flash  of  lightning 
and  the  bursting  of  the  thunder. 

At  the  beginning  of  July  there  was  peace  without 
suspicion  of  interruption.  The  Legislative  Body  had 
just  discussed  a  proposition  for  the  redaction  of  the  an- 
nual Army  Contingent.  At  Berlin  the  Parliament  was 
not  in  session.  Count  Bismarck  was  at  his  country 
home  in  Pomerania,  the  King  enjoying  himself  at  Ems. 
How  sudden  and  unexpected  the  change  will  appear 


250      THE   DUEL   BETWEEN   FRANCE  AND   GERMANY. 

from  an  illustrative  circumstance.  M.  Prevost-Paradol, 
of  rare  talent  and  unhappy  destiny,  newly  appointed 
Minister  to  the  United  States,  embarked  at  Havre  on 
the  1st  of  July,  and  reached  Washington  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  14th  of  July.  He  assured  me  that  when  he 
left  France  there  was  no  talk  or  thought  of  war.  Dur- 
ing his'  brief  summer  voyage  the  whole  startling  event 
had  begun  and  culminated.  Prince  Leopold  of  Hohen- 
zollern-Sigmaringen  being  invited  to  become  candidate 
for  the  throne  of  Spain,  France  promptly  sent  her  defi- 
ance to  Prussia,  followed  a  few  days  later  by  formal 
Declaration  of  War.  The  Minister  was  oppressed  by 
the  grave  tidings  coming  upon  him  so  unprepared,  and 
sought  relief  in  self-slaughter,  being  the  first  victim  of 
the  war.  Everything  moved  with  a  rapidity  borrowed 
from  the  new  forces  supplied  by  human  invention,  and 
the  Gates  of  War  swung  wide  open. 

CHALLENGE   TO   PRUSSIA. 

A  FEW  incidents  exhibit  this  movement.  It  was  on 
the  30th  of  June,  while  discussing  the  proposed  reduc- 
tion of  the  Army,  that  l^mile  Ollivier,  the  Prime-Minis- 
ter, said  openly  :  "  The  Government  has  no  kind  of  dis- 
quietude ;  at  no  epoch  has  the  maintenance  of  peace 
been  more  assured ;  on  whatever  side  you  look,  you  see 
no  irritating  question  under  discussion."  ^  In  the  same 
debate,  Garnier-Pages,  the  consistent  Eepublican,  and 
now  a  member  of  the  Provisional  Government,  after 
asking,  "Why  these  armaments?"  cried  out:  "Disarm, 
without  waiting  for  others :  this  is  practical.  Let  the 
people  be  relieved  from  the  taxes  which  crush  them, 

1  Journal  Officiel  du  Soir,  3  Juillet  1870. 


CHA.LLEXGE  TO   PRUSSIA.  251 

and  from  the  heaviest  of  all,  the  tax  of  blood."  ^  The 
candidature  of  Prince  Leopold  seems  to  have  become 
known  at  Paris  on  the  5th  of  July.  On  the  next  day 
the  Due  de  Gramont,  of  a  family  famous  in  scandalous 
history,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  hurries  to  the  tri- 
bune with  defiance  on  his  lips.  After  declaring  for  the 
Cabinet  that  no  foreign  power  covdd  be  suffered,  by 
placing  one  of  its  princes  on  the  throne  of  Charles  the 
Fifth,  to  derange  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe,  and 
put  in  peril  the  interests  and  the  honor  of  France,  he 
concludes  by  saying,  in  ominous  words :  "  Strong  in 
your  support,  Gentlemen,  and  in  that  of  the  nation,  we 
shall  know  how  to  do  our  duty  without  hesitation  and 
without  weakness."-  This  defiance  was  followed  by 
what  is  called  in  the  report,  "general  and  prolonged 
movement,  —  repeated  applause";  and  here  was  the 
first  stage  in  the  duel.  Its  character  was  recognized  at 
once  in  the  Chamber.  Garnier-Pages  exclaimed,  in 
words  worthy  of  memory :  "  It  is  dynastic  questions 
which  trouble  the  peace  of  Europe.  The  people  have 
only  reason  to  love  and  aid  each  other."  ^  Though 
short,  better  than  many  long  speeches.  Cremieux,  an 
associate  in  the  Provisional  Government  of  1848,  in- 
sisted that  the  utterance  of  the  Minister  was  "  a  men- 
ace of  war " ;  and  Emmanuel  Arago,  son  of  the  great 
Eepublican  astronomer  and  mathematician,  said  that 
the  Minister  "had  declared  war."*  These  patriotic 
representatives  were  not  mistaken.  The  speech  made 
peace  difficult,  if  not  impossible.  It  was  a  challenge 
to  Prussia. 

1  Journal  Officiel  du  Soir,  2  Juillet  1870. 

*  Ibid.,  8  Juillet.  a  ii,id.  *  Ibid. 


252       THE   DUEL   BETWEEN   FRANCE   AND   GERMANY. 
COMEDY. 

Europe  watched  with  dismay  as  the  gauntlet  was 
thus  rudely  flung  down,  while  on  this  side  of  the  At- 
lantic, where  France  and  Germany  commingle  in  the 
enjoyment  of  our  equal  citizenship,  the  interest  was 
intense.  Morning  and  evening  the  telegraph  made  us 
all  partakers  of  the  hopes  and  fears  agitating  the  world. 
Too  soon  it  was  apparent  that  the  exigence  of  France 
would  not  be  satistied,  while  already  her  preparations 
for  war  were  undisguised.  At  all  the  naval  stations, 
from  Toulon  to  Cherbourg,  the  greatest  activity  pre- 
vailed. Marshal  MacMahon  was  recalled  from  Algeria, 
and  transports  were  made  ready  to  bring  back  the 
troops  from  that  colony. 

Meanwhile  the  candidature  of  Prince  Leopold  was 
renounced  by  him.  But  this  was  not  enough.  The 
King  of  Prussia  was  asked  to  promise  Ihat  it  should 
in  no  event  ever  be  renewed,  —  which  he  declined  to 
do,  reserving  to  himself  the  liberty  of  consulting  cir- 
cumstances. This  requirement  was  the  more  offensive, 
inasmuch  as  it  was  addressed  exclusively  to  Prussia, 
while  nothing  was  said  to  Spain,  the  principal  in  the 
business.  Then  ensued  an  incident  proper  for  comedy, 
if  it  had  not  become  the  declared  cause  of  tragedy. 
The  French  Ambassador,  Count  Benedetti,  who,  on  in- 
telligence of  the  candidature,  had  followed  the  King 
to  Ems,  his  favorite  watering-place,  and  there  in  succes- 
sive interviews  pressed  him  to  order  its  withdrawal, 
now,  on  its  voluntary  renunciation,  proceeding  to  urge 
the  new  demand,  and  after  an  extended  conversation, 
and  notwithstanding  its  decided  refusal,  seeking,  nev- 
ertheless, another  audience  the  same  day  on  this  subject, 


PEETEXT  OF  THE  TELEGRAM.  253 

his  Majesty,  with  perfect  politeness,  sent  him  word  by 
an  adjutant  in  attendance,  that  he  had  no  other  answer 
to  make  than  the  one  ah-eady  given :  and  this  refusal 
to  receive  the  Ambassador  was  promptly  communicated 
by  telegraph,  for  the  information  especially  of  the  dif- 
ferent German  governments.^ 

PRETEXT   OF   THE  TELEGRAM. 

These  simple  facts,  insufficient  for  the  slightest  quar- 
rel, intolerable  in  the  pettiness  of  the  issue  disclosed, 
and  monstrous  as  reason  for  war  between  two  civilized 
nations,  became  the  welcome  pretext.  Swiftly,  and 
with  ill-disguised  alacrity,  the  French  Cabinet  took  the 
next  step  in  the  duel.  On  the  15th  of  July  the  Prime- 
Minister  read  from  the  tribune  a  manifesto  setting  forth 
the  griefs  of  France,  —  being,  first,  the  refusal  of  the 
Prussian  King  to  promise  for  the  future,  and,  secondly, 
his  refusal  to  receive  the  French  Ambassador,  with  the 
communication  of  this  refusal,  as  was  alleged,  "  official- 
ly to  the  Cabinets  of  Europe,"  which  was  a  mistaken 
allegation: 2  and  the  paper  concludes  by  announcing 
that  since  the  preceding  day  the  Government  had  called 
in  the  reserves,  and  that  they  would  immediately  take 
the  measures  necessary  to  secure  the  interests,  the  safe- 
ty, and  the  honor  of  France.^     This  was  war. 

1  Bismarck  to  BernstorfiF,  July  19,  1870,  with  Inclosures  :  Parliamentary 
Papers;,  1870,  Vol.  LXX.,  —  Franco-Prussian  War,  No.  3,  pp.  5-8.  Gerolt 
to  Fish,  AiTgust  11,  1870,  with  Inclosiires  :  Executive  Documents,  41st 
Cong.  3d  Sess.,  H.  of  R.,  Vol.  I.  No.  1,  Part  1, — Foreign  Relations,  pp. 
219-221.  The  reader  will  notice  that  the  copy  of  the  Telegram  in  this 
latter  volume  is  the  paper  on  p.  221,  with  the  erroneous  heading,  "  Count 
Bismarck  to  Baron  Gerolt." 

2  Bismarck  to  Bernstorff,  July  18,  and  to  Gerolt,  July  19,  1870  :  Parlia- 
mentary Papers  and  Executive  Documents,  Inclosures,  ubi  supra. 

3  Journal  Officiel  du  Soir,  17  Juillet  1870. 


254   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

Some  there  were  who  saw  the  fearful  calamity,  the 
ghastly  crime,  then  and  there  initiated.  The  scene  that 
ensued  belongs  to  this  painful  record.  The  paper  an- 
nouncing war  was  followed  by  prolonged  applause. 
The  Prime-Minister  added  soon  after  in  debate,  that  he 
accepted  the  responsibility  with  "  a  light  heart."  ^  Not 
all  were  in  this  mood.  Esquiros,  the  Eepublican,  cried 
from  his  seat,  in  momentous  words,  "  You  have  a  light 
heart,  and  the  blood  of  nations  is  about  to  flow  ! "  To 
the  apology  of  the  Prime-^Iinister,  "  that  in  the  dis- 
charge of  a  duty  the  heart  is  not  troubled,"  Jules  Favre, 
the  Republican  leader,  of  acknowledged  moderation  and 
ability,  flashed  forth,  "  When  the  discharge  of  this  duty 
involves  the  slaughter  of  two  nations,  one  may  well 
have  the  heart  troubled  ! "  Beyond  these  declarations, 
giving  utterance  to  the  natural  sentiments  of  humanity, 
was  the  positive  objection,  most  forcibly  presented  by 
Thiers,  so  famous  in  the  Chamber  and  in  literature, 
"that  the  satisfaction  due  to  France  had  l)een  accorded 
her,  —  that  Prussia  had  expiated  by  a  check  the  grave 
fault  she  had  committed,"  —  that  France  had  prevailed 
in  substance,  and  all  that  remained  was  "  a  question  of 
form,"  "  a  question  of  susceptibility,"  "  questions  of  eti- 
quette." The  experienced  statesman  asked  for  the  dis- 
patches. Then  came  a  confession.  The  Prime-Minister 
replied,  that  he  had  "  nothing  to  communicate, — that,  in 
the  true  sense  of  the  term,  there  had  been  no  dispatches, 
—  that  tliere  were  only  verbal  communications  gathered 
up  in  reports,  which,  according  to  diplomatic  usage,  are 
not  communicated."  Here  Emmanuel  Arago  interrupt- 
ed :  "  It  is  on  these  reports  that  you  make  war  I "     The 

1  "  De  ce  jour  commence  pour  lus  niinistres  nies  collegues,  et  pour  moi, 
une  grande  responsibilite.  [ "  Oui ! "  d  gauche.]  Nous  I'acceptons,  le  coeur 
lejrer." 


PRETEXT  OF  THE  TELEGRAM.         255 

Prime-Minister  proceeded  to  read  two  brief  telegrams 
from  Count  Benedetti  at  Ems,  when  De  Choiseul  very 
justly  exclaimed:  "We  cannot  make  war  on  that  ground; 
it  is  impossible  !  "  Others  cried  out  from  their  seats,  — 
Gamier-Pages  saying,  "  These  are  phrases  "  ;  Enmian- 
uel  Arago  protesting,  "  On  this  the  civilized  world  will 
pronounce  you  wrong " ;  to  which  Jules  Favre  added, 
"  Unhappily,  true ! "  Thiers  and  Jules  Favre,  with 
vigorous  eloquence,  charged  the  war  upon  the  Cabinet : 
Thiers  declaring,  "  I  regret  to  be  obliged  to  say  that  we 
have  war  by  the  fault  of  the  Cabinet " ;  Jules  Favre 
alleging,  "  If  we  have  war,  it  is  thanks  to  the  politics  of 
the  Cabinet ;  .  .  .  .  from  the  exposition  that  has  been 
made,  so  far  as  the  general  interests  of  the  two  countries 
are  concerned,  there  is  no  avowable  motive  for  war." 
Girault  exclaimed,  in  similar  spirit :  "  We  would  be 
among  the  first  to  come  forward  in  a  war  for  the  coun- 
try, but  we  do  not  wish  to  come  forward  in  a  dynastic 
and  aggressive  war."  The  Due  de  Gramont,  who  on  the 
6th  of  July  flung  down  the  gauntlet,  spoke  once  more 
for  the  Cabinet,  stating  solemnly,  what  was  not  the  fact, 
that  the  Prussian  Government  had  communicated  to  all 
the  Cabinets  of  Europe  the  refusal  to  receive  the  French 
Ambassador,  and  then  on  this  misstatement  ejaculating: 
"  It  is  an  outrage  on  the  Emperor  and  on  France ;  and 
if,  by  impossibility,  there  were  found  in  my  country  a 
Chamber  to  bear  and  tolerate  it,  I  would  not  remain  five 
minutes  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs."  In  our  country 
we  have  seen  how  the  Southern  heart  was  fired ;  so  also 
was  fired  the  heart  of  France.  The  Duke  descended 
from  the  tribune  amidst  prolonged  applause,  with  cries 
of  "  Bravo  ! "  —  and  at  his  seat  (so  says  the  report)  "  re- 
ceived numerous  felicitations."    Such  was  the  atmosphere 


256       THE   DUEL   BET^YEEN   FRANCE   AND   GERMANY. 

of  the  Chamber  at  this  eventful  moment.  The  orators 
of  the  Opposition,  pleading  for  delay  in  the  interest  of 
peace,  were  stifled ;  and  when  Gambetta,  the  young  and 
fearless  Eepublican,  made  himself  heard  in  calling  ibr 
the  text  of  the  dispatch  communicating  the  refusal  to 
receive  the  Ambassador,  to  the  end  that  the  Chamber, 
France,  and  all  Europe  might  judge  of  its  character,  he 
was  answered  by  the  Prime-Minister  with  the  taunt 
that  "  for  the  first  time  in  a  French  Assembly  there 
were  such  difficulties  on  a  certain  side  in  explaining  a 
question  of  honor."  Such  was  the  case  as  presented  by 
the  Prime-Minister,  and  on  this  question  of  honor  he 
accepted  war  "  with  a  light  heart."  Better  say,  with  no 
heart  at  all ;  —  for  whoso  could  find  in  this  condition  of 
things  sufficient  reason  for  war  was  without  heart.^ 

During  these  brief  days  of  solicitude,  from  the  6th  to 
the  15th  of  July,  England  made  an  unavailing  effort 
for  peace.  Lord  Lyons  was  indefatigaljle ;  and  he  was 
sustained  at  home  by  Lord  Granville,  who  as  a  last  re- 
sort reminded  the  two  parties  of  the  stipulation  at  the 
Congress  of  Paris,  which  they  had  accepted,  in  favor  of 
Arbitration  as  a  substitute  for  War,  and  asked  them  to 
accept  the  good  offices  of  some  friendly  power.^  This 
most  reasonable  proposition  was  rejected  by  the  French 
Minister,  who  gave  new  point  to  tlie  French  case  by 
charging  that  Prussia  "  had  chosen  to  declare  that 
France  had  been  affronted  in  the  person  of  her  Ambas- 
sador," and  then  positively  insisting  that  "  it  was  this 
boast  which  was  the  gravamen  of  the  offence."    Capping 

1  For  the  full  debate,  see  the  Journal  Officiel  du  Soir,  17  Juillet  1870, 
and  Supplement. 

2  Earl  Granville  to  Lords  Lyons  and  Loftus,  July  15,  1870,  —  Corre- 
spondence respecting  the  Negotiations  preliminary  to  the  War  between 
France  and  Prussia,  p.  35  :  Parliamentary  Pajjcrs,  1870,  Vol.  LXX. 


PRETEXT  OF  THE  TELEGRAM.         257 

the  climax  of  barbarous  absurdity,  the  French  Minister 
did  not  hesitate  to  announce  that  this  "constituted  an 
insult  which  no  nation  of  any  spirit  could  brook,  and 
rendered  it,  much  to  the  regret  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment, impossible  to  take  into  consideration  tlie  mode 
of  settling  the  original  matter  in  dispute  which  was 
recommended  by  her  Majesty's  Government."  ^  Thus 
was  peaceful  Arbitration  repelled.  All  honor  to  the 
English  Government  for  proposing  it ! 

The  famous  telegram  put  forward  by  France  as  the 
gravamen,  or  chief  offence,  was  not  communicated  to  the 
Chamber.  The  Prime -Minister,  though  hard-pressed, 
held  it  back.  Was  it  from  conviction  of  its  too  trivial 
character  ?  But  it  is  not  lost  to -the  history  of  the  duel. 
This  telegram,  with  something  of  the  brevity  peculiar  to 
telegraphic  dispatches,  merely  reports  the  refusal  to  see 
the  French  Ambassador,  without  one  word  of  affront  or 
boast.  It  reports  the  fact,  and  notliiug  else ;  and  it  is 
understood  that  the  refusal  was  only  when  this  func- 
tionary presented  himself  a  second  time  in  one  day  on 
the  same  business.  Considering  the  interests  involved, 
it  would  have  been  better,  had  the  King  seen  him  as 
many  times  as  he  chose  to  call ;  yet  the  refusal  was  not 
unnatural.  The  perfect  courtesy  of  his  Majesty  on  this 
occasion  furnished  no  cause  of  complaint.  All  that  re- 
mained for  pretext  was  the  telegram.^ 

1  Lord  Lyons  to  Earl  Granville,  July  15, 1870,  —  Correspondence  respect- 
ing the  Negotiations  preliminary  to  the  War  between  France  and  Prussia, 
pp.  39,  40  :  Parliamentary  Papers,  1870,  Vol.  LXX. 

2  See  references,  ante,  p.  19,  Note  1.  For  this  telegram  in  the  original, 
see  Aegidi  und  Elauhold,  Staatsarchiv,  (Hamburg,  1870,)  19  Band,  s.  44, 
No.  4033. 


258   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 


FORMAL  DECLARATION  OF  WAR, 

The  scene  in  the  Legislative  Body  was  followed  by 
the  instant  introduction  of  bills  making  additional  ap- 
propriations for  the  Army  and  Navy,  calling  out  the 
National  Guard,  and  authorizing  volunteers  for  the  war. 
This  last  proposition  was  commended  by  the  observa- 
tion that  in  France  there  were  a  great  many  young  peo- 
ple liking  powder,  but  not  liking  barracks,  who  would 
in  this  way  be  suited ;  and  this  was  received  with  ap- 
plause.^ On  the  18th  of  July  there  was  a  further 
appropriation  to  the  extent  of  500  million  francs,  — 
440  millions  being  for  the  Army,  and  60  for  the  Navy ; 
and  an  increase  from  150  to  500  millions  Treasury 
notes  was  authorized.^  On  the  20th  of  July  the  Due 
de  Gramont  appeared  once  more  in  the  tribune,  and 
made  the  following  speech  :  — 

"  Conformably  to  customary  rules,  and  by  order  of  the 
Emperor,  I  have  invited  the  Charge  d' Affaires  of  France  to 
notify  the  Berlin  Cabinet  of  our  resolution  to  seek  by  arms 
the  guaranties  which  we  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  by 
discussion.  This  step  has  been  taken,  and  I  have  the  honor 
of  making  known  to  the  Legislative  Body  that  in  consequence 
a  state  of  war  exists  between  France  and  Prussia,  beginning 
the  19th  of  July.  This  declaration  applies  equally  to  the 
allies  of  Prussia  who  lend  her  the  cooperation  of  their  arms 
against  us."  ^ 

Here  the  French  Minister  played  the  part  of  trum- 
peter in  the  duel,  making  proclamation  before  his  cham- 
pion rode  forward.  According  to  the  statement  of  Count 
Bismarck,  made  to  the  Parliament  at  Berlin,  this  formal 

1  Journal  Officiel  du  Soir,  17  Juillet  1870. 

2  Ibid.,  20  Juillet.  »  Ibid.,  23  Juillet. 


FOKMAL   DECLARATION    OF   WAR.  259 

Declaration  of  War  was  the  solitary  official  communi- 
cation from  France  in  tliis  whole  transaction,  being  the 
first  and  only  note  since  the  candidature  of  Prince 
Leopold.^  How  swift  this  madness  will  be  seen  in  a 
few  dates.  On  the  6th  of  July  was  uttered  the  first 
defiance  from  the  French  tribune ;  on  the  15th  of  July 
an  exposition  of  the  griefs  of  France,  in  the  nature 
of  a  Declaration  of  War,  with  a  demand  for  men  and 
money;  on  the  19th  of  July  a  state  of  war  was  de- 
clared to  exist. 

Firmly,  but  in  becoming  contrast  with  the  "light 
heart "  of  France,  this  was  promptly  accepted  by  Ger- 
many, whose  heart  and  strength  found  expression  in  the 
speech  of  the  King  at  the  opening  of  Parliament,  hastily 
assembled  on  the  19th  of  July.  With  articulation  dis- 
turbed by  emotion  and  with  moistened  eyes,  his  Majesty 
said :  — 

"  Supported  by  the  unanimous  will  of  the  German  govern- 
ments of  the  South  as  of  the  North,  we  turn  the  more  con- 
fidently to  the  love  of  Fatherland  and  the  cheerful  self- 
devotion  of  the  German  people,  with  a  call  to  the  defence 
of  their  honor  and  their  independence."  ^ 

Parliament  responded  sympathetically  to  the  King, 
and  made  the  necessary  appropriations.  And  thus  the 
two  champions  stood  frout  to  front. 

1  Substance  of  Speecli  of  Bismarck  to  the  Reichstag,  [July  20,  1870,] 
explanatory  of  Documents  relating  to  the  Declaration  of  War,  —  Franco- 
Pru.ssian  War,  No.  3,  p.  29  :  Parliamentary  Papers,  1870,  Vol.  LXX.  Dis- 
cours  du  Comte  de  Bismarck  au  Reichstag,  le  20  Juillet  1870  :  Angeberg, 
[Chodzko,]  Recueil  des  Traites,  etc.,  concernant  la  Guerre  Franco-Alle- 
mande,  Tom.  I.  p.  215. 

2  Aegidi  und  Klauhold,  Staatsarchiv,  19  Band,  s.  107,  No.  4056.  Parlia- 
mentary Papers,  1870,  Vol.  LXX.:  Franco-Prussian  War,  No.  3,  pp.  2-3. 


200      THE   DUEL   BETWEEN    FRANCE   AND   GERMANY. 
THE   TWO   HOSTILE   PARTIES. 

Throughout  France,  throughout  Germauy,  the  trum- 
pet sounded,  and  everywhere  the  people  sprang  to  arms, 
as  if  the  great  horn  of  Orlando,  after  a  sleep  of  ages, 
had  sent  forth  once  more  its  commanding  summons. 
Not  a  town,  not  a  village,  that  the  voice  did  not  pene- 
trate. Modern  invention  had  supplied  an  ally  beyond 
anything  in  fable.  From  all  parts  of  France,  from  all 
parts  of  Germany,  armed  men  leaped  forward,  leaving 
behind  the  charms  of  peace  and  the  business  of  life. 
On  each  side  the  muster  was  mighty,  armies  counting 
by  the  hundred  thousand.  And  now,  before  we  witness 
the  mutual  slaughter,  let  us  pause  to  consider  the  two 
parties,  and  the  issue  between  them. 

France  and  Germany  are  most  unlike,  and  yet  the 
peers  of  each  other,  while  among  the  nations  they  are 
unsurpassed  in  civilization,  each  prodigious  in  resources, 
splendid  in  genius,  and  great  in  renown.  No  two  na- 
tions are  so  nearly  matched.  By  Germany  I  now  mean 
not  only  the  States  constituting  North  Germany,  but 
also  Wiirtemberg,  Baden,  and  Bavaria  of  South  Ger- 
many, allies  in  the  present  war,  all  of  which  together 
make  about  fifty-three  millions  of  French  hectares,  be- 
ing very  nearly  the  area  of  France.  The  population  of 
each  is  not  far  from  thirty-eight  millions,  and  it  would 
be  difficult  to  say  which  is  the  larger.  Looking  at  fi- 
nances, Germany  has  the  smaller  revenue,  but  also  the 
smaller  debt,  while  her  rulers,  following  the  sentiment 
of  the  people,  cultivate  a  wise  economy,  so  that  here 
again  substantial  equality  is  maintained  with  France. 
The  armies  of  the  two,  embracing  regular  troops  and 
those  subject  to  call,  did  not  differ  much  in  numbers, 


THE   TWO   HOSTILE   PAKTIES.  261 

unless  we  set  aside  the  authority  of  the  "  Almanach  de 
Gotha,"  which  puts  the  military  force  of  France  some- 
what vaguely  at  1,350,000,  while  that  of  North  Ger- 
many is  only  977,262,  to  which  must  be  added  49,949 
for  Bavaria,  34,953  for  Wiirtemberg,  and  43,703  for 
Baden,  making  a  sum-total  of  1,105,867.  This,  how- 
ever, is  chiefly  on  paper,  where  it  is  evident  France 
is  stronger  than  in  reality.  Her  available  force  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  probably  did  not  amount  to  more 
than  350,000  bayonets,  while  that  of  Germany,  owing 
to  her  superior  system,  was  as  much  as  double  this 
number.  In  Prussia  every  man  is  obliged  to  serve,  and, 
still  further,  every  man  is  educated.  Discipline  and 
education  are  two  potent  adjuncts.  This  is  favorable 
to  Germany.  In  the  Chassepot  and  needle-gun  the 
two  are  equal.  But  France  excels  in  a  well-appointed 
Navy,  having  no  less  than  55  iron-clads,  and  384  other 
vessels  of  war,  while  Germany  has  but  2  iron-clads, 
and  87  other  vessels  of  war.^  Then  again  for  long 
generations  has  existed  another  disparity,  to  the  great 
detriment  of  Germany.  France  has  been  a  nation, 
while  Germany  has  been  divided,  and  therefore  weak. 
Strong  in  union,  the  latter  now  claims  something  more 
than  that  dominion  of  the  air  once  declared  to  be  hers, 
while  France  had  the  land  and  England  the  sea.^  The 
dominion  of  the  land  is  at  last  contested,  and  we  are 
saddened  inexpressibly,  that,  from  the  elevation  they 

1  For  the  foregoing  statistics,  see  Almanach  de  Gotha,  1870,  under  the 
names  of  the  several  States  referred  to,  —  also,  for  Areas  and  Population, 
Tableaux  Comparatifs,  I.,  II.,  III.,  in  same  volume,  pp.  1037-38. 

2  "  So  wie  die  Franzosen  die  Herren  des  Landes  sind,  die  Englander  die 
des  grossern  Meeres,  wir  die  der  Beide  und  Alles  iimfassenden  Luft  sind." — 
RiOllTER,  (Jean  Paul,)  Frieden-Predigt  an  Deutschland,  V.  :  Sammtliche 
Werke,  (Berlin,  1826-38,)  TheU  XXXIV.  s.  13. 


262   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

have  reached,  these  two  peers  of  civihzation  can  descend 
to  practise  the  barbarism  of  war,  and  especially  that  the 
land  of  Descartes,  Pascal,  Voltaire,  and  Laplace  must 
challenge  to  bloody  duel  the  land  of  Luther,  Leibnitz, 
Kant,  and  Humboldt. 

FOLLY. 

Plainly  between  these  two  neighboring  powers  there 
has  been  unhappy  antagonism,  constant,  if  not  increas- 
ing, partly  from  the  memory  of  other  days,  and  partly 
because  France  could  not  bear  to  witness  that  German 
unity  which  was  a  national  right  and  duty.  Often  it 
has  been  said  that  war  was  inevitable.  But  it  has  come 
at  last  by  surprise,  and  on  "  a  question  of  form."  So  it 
was  called  by  Thiers ;  so  it  was  recognized  by  Ollivier, 
when  he  complained  of  insensibility  to  a  question  of 
honor ;  and  so  also  by  the  Due  de  Gramont,  when  he 
referred  it  all  to  a  telegram.  This  is  not  the  first  time 
in  history  that  wars  have  been  waged  on  trifles ;  but 
since  the  Lord  of  Frauenstein  challenged  the  free  city 
of  Frankfort  because  a  young  lady  of  the  city  refused 
to  dance  with  his  uncle,  nothing  has  passed  more  ab- 
surd than  this  challenge  sent  by  France  to  Germany 
because  the  King  of  Prussia  refused  to  see  the  French 
Ambassador  a  second  time  on  the  same  matter,  and 
then  let  the  refusal  be  reported  by  telegraph.  Here  is 
the  folly  exposed  by  Shakespeare,  when  Hamlet  touch- 
es a  madness  greater  than  his  own  in  that  spirit  which 
would  •'  find  quarrel  in  a  straw  when  honor  's  at  the 
stake,"  and  at  the  same  time  depicts  an  army 

"  Led  by  a  delicate  and  tender  prince, 

Exposing  what  is  mortal  and  unsure 

To  all  that  Fortune,  Death,  and  Danger  dare, 

Evtnfor  an  egg-shell.  " 


UNJUST  PRETENSION   OF  FRANCE.  263 

There  can  be  no  quarrel  in  a  straw  or  for  an  egg-shell, 
unless  men  have  gone  mad.  Nor  can  honor  in  a  civil- 
ized age  require  any  sacrifice  of  reason  or  humanity. 

UNJUST   PRETENSION  OF  FRANCE  TO  INTERFERE  WITH 
THE   CANDIDATURE   OF   HOHENZOLLERN. 

If  the  utter  triviality  of  the  pretext  were  left  doubt- 
ful in  the  debate,  if  its  towering  absurdity  were  not 
plainly  apparent,  if  its  simple  wickedness  did  not  al- 
ready stand  before  us,  we  should  find  all  these  char- 
acteristics glaringly  manifest  in  that  unjust  pretension 
which  preceded  the  objection  of  form,  on  which  France 
finally  acted.     A  few  words  will  make  this  plain. 

In  a  happy  moment  Spain  rose  against  Queen  Isa- 
bella, and,  amidst  cries  of  "  Down  with  the  Bourbons ! " 
drove  her  from  the  throne  which  she  dishonored.  This 
was  in  September,  1868.  Instead  of  constituting  a  Re- 
public at  once,  in  harmony  with  tliose  popular  rights 
which  had  been  proclaimed,  the  half-hearted  leaders 
proceeded  to  look  about  for  a  King;  and  from  that 
time  till  now  they  have  been  in  this  quest,  as  if  it  were 
the  Holy  Grail,  or  happiness  on  earth.  The  royal 
family  of  Spain  was  declared  incompetent.  Therefore 
a  king  must  be  found  outside,  —  and  so  the  quest  was 
continued  in  other  lands.  One  day  the  throne  is  offered 
to  a  prince  of  Portugal,  then  to  a  prince  of  Italy,  but 
declined  by  each,  —  how  wisely  the  future  will  show. 
At  last,  after  a  protracted  pursuit  of  nearly  two  years, 
the  venturesome  soldier  who  is  Captain-General  and 
Prime-Minister,  Marshal  Prim,  conceives  the  idea  of 
offering  it  to  a  prince  of  Germany.  His  luckless  vic- 
tim is  Prince  Leopold  of  Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen,  a 


264   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

Catholic,  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  colonel  of  the  first 
regiment  of  the  Prussian  foot-guards,  whose  father,  a 
mediatized  German  prince,  resides  at  Dlisseldorf.  The 
Prince  had  not  the  good  sense  to  decline.  How  his 
acceptance  excited  the  French  Cabinet,  and  became  the 
beginning  of  the  French  pretext,  I  have  already  ex- 
posed; and  now  I  come  to  the  pretension  itself. 

By  what  title  did  France  undertake  to  interfere  with 
the  choice  of  Spain  ?  If  the  latter  was  so  foolish  as  to 
seek  a  foreigner  for  king,  making  a  German  first  among 
Spaniards,  by  what  title  did  any  other  power  attempt  to 
control  its  will  ?  To  state  the  question  is  to  answer  it. 
Beginning  with  an  outrage  on  Spanish  independence, 
which  the  Spain  of  an  earlier  day  would  have  resented, 
the  next  outrage  was  on  Germany,  in  assuming  that  an 
insignificant  prince  of  that  country  could  not  be  per- 
mitted to  accept  the  invitation,  —  all  of  which,  besides 
being  of  insufferable  insolence,  was  in  that  worst  dynas- 
tic spirit  which  looks  to  princes  rather  than  the  people. 
Plainly  France  was  unjustifiable.  When  I  say  it  was 
none  of  her  business,  I  give  it  the  mildest  condemnation. 
This  was  the  first  step  in  her  monstrous  hlundcr-crimc. 

Its  character  as  a  pretext  becomes  painfully  manifest, 
when  we  learn  more  of  the  famous  Prince  Leopold,  thus 
invited  by  Spain  and  opposed  by  France.  It  is  true 
that  his  family  name  is  in  part  the  same  as  that  of  the 
Prussian  king.  Each  is  Hohenzollern ;  but  he  adds  Sig- 
maringen  to  the  name.  The  two  are  different  branches 
of  the  same  family  ;  but  you  must  ascend  to  the  twelfth 
century,  counting  more  than  twenty  degrees,  before  you 
come  to  a  common  ancestor.^     And   yet  on  this  most 

1  Conversations -Lexikon.  {hny/.vj.,  1866,)  8  Ranrl,  art.  HoHENZOLLERN. 
Carlyle's  History  of  Friedrich  11.,  (Loudon,  1S58,)  Book  IIL  Ch.  1,  Vol.  L 
p.  200. 


I 


UNJUST   PRETENSION   OF   FRANCE.  9(55 

distant  and  infinitesimal  relationship  the  French  preten- 
sion is  founded.  But  audacity  changes  to  the  ridiculous, 
when  it  is  known  that  the  Prince  is  nearer  in  relation- 
ship to  the  French  Emperor  than  to  the  Prussian  King, 
and  this  by  three  different  intermarriages,  which  do  not 
go  back  to  the  twelfth  century.  Here  is  the  case.  His 
grandfather  had  for  wife  a  niece  of  Joachim  Murat,^ 
King  of  Naples,  and  brother-in-law  of  the  first  Napo- 
leon ;  and  his  father  had  for  wife  a  daughter  of  Ste- 
phanie de  Beauharnais,  an  adopted  daughter  of  the  first 
Napoleon;  so  that  Prince  Leopold  is  by  his  father  great- 
grand-nephew  of  Murat,  and  by  his  mother  he  is  grand- 
son of  Stephanie  de  Beauharnais,  who  was  cousin  and 
by  adoption  sister  of  Hortense  de  Beauharnais,  mother 
of  the  present  Emperor;  and  to  this  may  be  added  still 
another  connection,  by  the  marriage  of  his  father's  sister 
with  Joachim  Napoleon,  IMarquis  of  Pepoli,  grandson  of 
Joachim  Murat.^  It  was  natural  that  a  person  thus 
connected  with  the  Imperial  Family  should  be  a  wel- 
come visitor  at  the  Tuileries ;  and  it  is  easy  to  believe 
that  Marshal  Prim,  who  offered  him  the  throne,  was 
encouraged  to  believe  that  the  Emperor's  kinsman  and 
guest  would  be  favorably  regarded  by  France.  And 
yet,  in  the  face  of  these  things,  and  the  three  several 
family  ties,  fresh  and  modern,  binding  him  to  France 
and  the  French  Emperor,  the  pretension  was  set  up  that 
his  occupation  of  the  Spanish  throne  would  put  in  peril 
the  interests  and  the  honor  of  France. 

1  Antoinette,  daughter  of  Etienne  Murat,  third  brother  of  Joachim.  — 
Biographic  Generalf\  (Didot,)  Tom.  XXXVI.  col.  9S-1,  art.  Murat,  note. 

2  Almanach  de  Gotha,  1S70,  pp.  85-87,  art.  Hohenzollern-Sigmarlngen. 


266      THE   DUEL   BETWEEN  FEANCE  AND   GERMANY. 

BECAUSE  FRANCE   WAS   READY. 

In  sending  defiance  to  Prussia  on  this  question,  the 
French  Cabinet  selected  their  own  ground.  Evidently  a 
war  had  been  meditated,  and  the  candidature  of  Prince 
Leopold  from  beginning  to  end  supplied  a  pretext.  In 
this  conclusion,  which  is  too  obvious,  we  are  hardly  left 
to  inference.  The  secret  was  disclosed  by  Kouher,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Senate,  lately  the  eloquent  and  unscrupulous 
Minister,  when,  in  an  official  address  to  the  Emperor, 
immediately  after  the  War  Manifesto  read  by  the  Prime- 
Minister,  he  declared  that  France  quivered  with  indig- 
nation at  the  flights  of  an  ambition  over-excited  by  the 
one  day's  good-fortune  at  Sado wa,  and  then  proceeded :  — 

"  Animated  by  that  calm  perseverance  which  is  true  force, 
your  Majesty  has  known  how  to  wait ;  but  in  the  last  four 
years  you  have  carried  to  its  highest  perfection  the  arming  of 
our  soldiers,  and  raised  to  its  full  power  the  organization  of 
our  military  forces.  Thanhs  to  your  caj'e,  Sire,  France  is 
ready."  ^ 

Thus,  according  to  the  President  of  the  Senate,  France, 
after  waiting,  commenced  war  because  she  was  ready,  — 
while,  according  to  the  Cabinet,  it  was  on  the  point  of 
honor.  Both  were  right.  The  war  was  declared  be- 
cause the  Emperor  thought  himself  ready,  and  a  pretext 
was  found  in  the  affair  of  the  telegram. 

Considering  the  age,  and  the  present  demands  of 
civilization,  such  a  war  stands  forth  terrific  in  wrong, 
making  the  soul  rise  indignant  against  it.  One  rea- 
son avowed  is  brutal ;  the  other  is  frivolous ;  both  are 
criminal.     If  we  look  into  the  text  of  the  Manifesto 

1  Address  at  the  Palais  de  Saint-Cloud,  July  16,  1870  :  Journal  OflBciel 
du  Soir,  18  Juilletl870. 


BECAUSE  FRANCE  WAS  EEADY.  267 

and  the  speeches  of  the  Cabinet,  it  is  a  war  founded  on 
a  trifle,  on  a  straw,  on  an  egg-shell.  Obviously  these 
were  pretexts  only.  Therefore  it  is  a  war  of  pretexts, 
the  real  object  being  the  humiliation  and  dismember- 
ment of  Germany,  in  the  vain  hope  of  exalting  the 
French  Empire  and  perpetuating  a  bawble  crown  on 
the  head  of  a  boy.  By  military  success  and  a  peace 
dictated  at  Berlin,  the  Emperor  trusted  to  find  himself 
in  such  condition,  that,  on  return  to  Paris,  he  could 
overthrow  parliamentary  government  so  far  as  it  ex- 
isted there,  and  reestablish  personal  government,  where 
all  depended  upon  himself, — thus  making  triumph  over 
Germany  the  means  of  another  triumph  over  the  French 
people. 

In  other  times  there  have  been  wars  as  criminal 
in  origin,  where  trifle,  straw,  or  egg-shell  played  its 
part;  but  they  contrasted  less  with  the  surrounding 
civilization.  To  this  list  belong  the  frequent  Dynastic 
Wars,  prompted  by  the  interest,  the  passion,  or  the 
whim  of  some  one  in  the  Family  of  Kings.  Others 
have  begun  in  recklessness  kindred  to  that  we  now 
witness, —  as  when  England  entered  into  war  with  Hol- 
land, and  for  reason  did  not  hesitate  to  allege  "  abusive 
pictures."  ^     The  England  of  Charles  the   Second  was 

1  Hume,  History  of  England,  Ch.  LXV.,  March  17,  1672.  —  The  terms  of 
the  Declaration  on  this  point  were,  —  "  Scarce  a  town  within  their  territories 
that  is  not  filled  with  abusive  pictures."  (Hansard's  Parliamentary  History, 
Vol.  IV.  col.  514.)  Uf)on  which  Hume  remarks:  "The  Dutch  were  long  at 
a  loss  what  to  make  of  this  article,  till  it  was  discovered  that  a  portrait  of 
Cornelius  de  Witt,  brother  to  the  Pensionary,  painted  by  order  of  certain 
magistrates  of  Dort,  and  hung  \vp  in  a  chamber  of  the  To\vTi-House,  had 
given  occasion  to  the  complaint.  In  the  perspective  of  this  portrait  the 
painter  had  drawn  some  ships  on  fire  in  a  harbor.  This  was  construed  to 
be  Chatham,  where  De  Witt  had  really  distinguished  himself,"  during  the 
previous  war,  in  the  way  here  indicated,  —  "  the  disgrace  "  of  which,  says 
Lingard,  "  sunk  deep  into  the  heart  of  the  King  and  the  hearts  of  his  sub- 
jects." —  History  of  England,  Vol.  IX,  Ch.  III.,  June  13,  1667. 


268   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY, 

hardly  less  sensitive  than  the  France  of  Louis  Napo- 
leon, while  in  each  was  similar  indifference  to  conse- 
quences. But  France  has  precedents  of  her  own. 
From  the  remarkable  correspondence  of  the  Princess 
Palatine,  Duchess  of  Orleans,  we  learn  that  the  first 
war  with  Holland  under  Louis  the  Fourteenth  was 
brought  on  by  the  Minister,  De  Lionne,  to  injure  a  pet- 
ty German  prince  who  had  made  him  jealous  of  his 
wife.*  The  communicative  and  exuberant  Saint-Simon 
tells  us  twice  over  how  Louvois,  another  Minister  of 
Louis  the  Fourteenth,  being  overruled  by  his  master 
with  regard  to  the  dimensions  of  a  window  at  Ver- 
sailles, was  filled  with  the  idea  that  "on  account  of  a 
few  inches  in  a  window,"  as  he  expressed  it,  all  his 
services  would  be  forgotten,  and  therefore,  to  save  his 
place,  excited  a  foreign  war  that  would  make  him  ne- 
cessary to  the  King.  The  flames  in  the  Palatinate, 
devouring  the  works  of  man,  attested  his  continuing 
power.  The  war  became  general,  but,  according  to  the 
chronicler,  it  ruined  France  at  home,  and  did  not  extend 
her  domain  abroad.^  The  French  Emperor  confidently 
expected  to  occupy  the  same  historic  region  so  often 
burnt  and  ravaged  by  French  armies,  with  that  castle 
of  Heidelberg  which  repeats  the  tale  of  blood,  —  and, 
let  me  say,  expected  it  for  no  better  reason  than  that 
of  his  royal  predecessor,  stimulated  by  an  unprincipled 
Minister  anxious  for  personal  position.  The  parallel  is 
continued  in  the  curse  which  the  Imperial  arms  have 
brought  on  France. 

1  Briefe  der  Prinzessin  Elisabetli  Charlotte  von  Orleans  an  die  Rauf^i'iifin 
Louise,  1676-1722,  herausg.  vou  W.  Menzel,  (Stuttgart,  1843, )  — Paris,  31 
Mertz,  1718,  s.  288. 

a  M^moires,  (Paris,  1829,)  Tom.  VIL  pp.  49-51;  XIII.  pp.  9-10. 


PROGRESS    OF  THE  WAR.  269 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   WAR. 


How  this  war  proceeded  I  need  not  recount.  You 
have  all  read  the  record  day  by  day,  sorrowing  for  Hu- 
manity, —  how,  after  briefest  interval  of  preparation  or 
hesitation,  the  two  combatants  first  crossed  swords  at 
Saarbrlicken,  within  the  German  frontier,  and  the 
young  Prince  Imperial  performed  his  part  in  picking 
up  a  bullet  from  the  field,  which  the  Emperor  promptly 
reported  by  telegraph  to  the  Empress,  —  how  this  little 
military  success  is  all  that  was  vouchsafed  to  the  man 
who  began  the  war,  —  how  soon  thereafter  victory  fol- 
lowed, first  on  the  hill-sides  of  Wissembourg  and  then 
of  Woerth,  shattering  the  army  of  MacMahon,  to  which 
the  Empire  was  looking  so  confidently,  —  how  another 
large  army  under  Bazaine  was  driven  within  the  strong 
fortress  of  Metz,  —  how  all  the  fortresses,  bristling  with 
guns  and  frowning  upon  Germany,  were  invested, — 
how  battle  followed  battle  on  various  fields,  where 
Death  was  the  great  conqueror,  —  how,  with  help  of 
modern  art,  war  showed  itself  to  be  murder  by  ma- 
chinery, —  how  MacMahon,  gathering  together  his  scat- 
tered men  and  strengthening  them  with  reinforcements, 
attempted  to  relieve  Bazaine,  —  how  at  last,  after  long 
marches,  his  large  army  found  itself  shut  up  at  Sedan 
with  a  tempest  of  fire  beating  upon  its  huddled  ranks, 
so  that  its  only  safety  was  capitulation,  —  how  with  the 
capitulation  of  the  army  was  the  submission  of  the 
Emperor  himself,  who  gave  his  sword  to  the  King  of 
Prussia  and  became  prisoner  of  war,  —  and  how,  on  the 
reception  of  this  news  at  Paris,  Louis  Napoleon  and  his 
dynasty  were  divested  of  their  powers  and  the  Empire 
was  lost  in  the  Eepublic.     These  things  you  know.     I 


270   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

need  not  dwell  on  tliera.  Not  to  battles  and  their  fear- 
ful vicissitudes,  where  all  is  incarnadined  with  blood, 
must  we  look,  but  to  the  ideas  which  prevail,  —  as  for 
the  measure  of  time  we  look,  not  to  the  pendulum  in 
its  oscillations,  but  to  the  clock  in  the  tower,  whose 
striking  tells  the  hours.  A  great  hour  for  Humanity 
sounded  when  the  Eepublic  was  proclaimed.  And  this 
I  say,  even  should  it  fail  again ;  for  every  attempt  con- 
tributes to  the  final  triumph. 

A  WAR  OF  SURPRISES. 

The  war,  from  the  pretext  at  its  beginning  to  the 
capitulation  at  Sedan,  has  been  a  succession  of  sur- 
prises, where  the  author  of  the  pretext  was  a  constant 
sufferer.  Nor  is  this  strange.  Falstaff  says,  with  hu- 
morous point,  "  See  now  how  wit  may  be  made  a  Jack- 
a-lent,  when  't  is  upon  ill  employment ! "  ^  —  and  an- 
other character,  in  a  play  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher, 
reveals  the  same  evil  destiny  in  stronger  terms,  when 
he  says, — 

"  Hell  gives  us  art  to  reacli  the  depth  of  sin, 
But  leaves  us  wretched  fools,  when  we  are  in."  2 

And  this  was  precisely  the  condition  of  the  French 
Empire.  Germany  perhaps  had  one  surprise,  at  the 
sudden  adoption  of  the  pretext  for  war.  But  the  Em- 
pire has  known  nothing  but  surprise.  A  fatal  surprise 
was  the  promptitude  witli  which  all  the  German  States, 
outside  of  Austrian  rule,  accepted  the  leadership  of 
Prussia,  and  joined  their  forces  to  hers.  Differences 
were   forgotten,  —  whether   the   hate  of  Hanover,  the 

1  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  Act  V.  Sc.  5. 

2  Queen  of  Corintli,  Act  IV.  Sc.  3. 


I 


A  WAR  OF  SURPRISES.  271 

dread  of  Wiirtemberg,  the  coolness  of  Bavaria,  the  oppo- 
sition of  Saxony,  or  the  impatience  of  the  Hanse  Towns 
at  lost  importance.  Hanover  would  not  rise  ;  the  other 
States  and  cities  would  not  be  detached.  On  the  day- 
after  the  reading  of  the  War  Manifesto  at  the  French 
tribune,  even  before  the  King's  speech  to  the  Northern 
Parliament,  the  Southern  States  began  to  move.  Ger- 
man unity  stood  firm,  and  this  was  the  supreme  sur- 
prise for  France  with  which  the  war  began.  On  one 
day  the  Emperor  in  his  Official  Journal  declares  his  ob- 
ject to  be  the  deliverance  of  Bavaria  from  Prussian  op- 
pression, and  on  the  very  next  day  the  Crown  Prince  of 
Prussia,  at  the  head  of  Bavarian  troops,  crushes  an  Im- 
perial army. 

Then  came  the  manifest  inferiority  of  the  Imperial 
army,  everywhere  outnumbered,  which  was  another  sur- 
prise,—  the  manifest  inferiority  of  the  Imperial  artil- 
lery, also  a  surprise,  —  the  manifest  inferiority  of  the 
Imperial  generals,  still  a  surprise.  Above  these  was  a 
prevailing  inefficiency  and  improvidence,  which  very 
soon  became  conspicuous,  and  this  was  a  surprise.  The 
strength  of  Germany,  as  now  exhibited,  was  a  surprise. 
And  when  the  German  armies  entered  France,  every 
step  was  a  surprise.  Wissembourg  was  a  surprise ;  so 
was  Woerth  ;  so  was  Beaumont ;  so  was  Sedan.  Every 
encounter  was  a  surprise.  Abel  Douay,  the  French 
general,  who  fell  bravely  fighting  at  Wissembourg,  the 
first  sacrifice  on  the  battle-field,  was  surprised;  so  was 
MacMahon,  not  only  at  the  beginning,  but  at  the  end. 
He  thought  that  the  King  and  Crown  Prince  were 
marching  on  Paris.  So  they  were,  —  but  they  turned 
aside  for  a  few  days  to  surprise  a  whole  army  of  more 
than  a  hundred  thousand  men,  terrible  with  cannon  and 


272   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

newly  invented  implements  of  war,  under  a  Marshal 
of  France,  and  with  an  Emperor  besides.  As  this  suc- 
cession of  surprises  was  crowned  with  what  seemed  the 
greatest  surprise  of  all,  there  remained  a  greater  still  in 
the  surprise  of  the  French  Empire.  No  Greek  Nemesis 
with  unrelenting  hand  ever  dealt  more  incessantly  the 
unavoidable  blow,  until  the  Empire  fell  as  a  dead  body 
falls,  while  the  Emperor  became  a  captive  and  the  Em- 
press a  fugitive,  with  their  only  child  a  fugitive  also. 
The  poet  says  :  — 

"  Sometime  let  gorgeous  Tragedy 
In  sceptred  pall  come  sweeiniig  by."l 

It  has  swept  before  the  eyes  of  all.  Beneath  that  scep- 
tred pall  is  the  dust  of  a  great  Empire,  founded  and 
ruled  by  Louis  Napoleon ;  if  not  the  dust  of  the  Em- 
peror also,  it  is  because  he  was  willing  to  sacrifice  others 
rather  than  himself. 


OTHER  FRENCH  SOVEREIGNS  CAPTURED   ON   THE 
BATTLE-FIELD. 

Twice  before  have  French  sovereigns  yielded  on  tlie 
battle-field,  and  become  prisoners  of  war  ;  but  never 
before  was  capitulation  so  vast.  Do  their  fates  fur- 
nish any  lesson  ?  At  the  Battle  of  Poitiers,  memorable 
in  English  history,  John,  King  of  France,  became  the 
prisoner  of  Edward  the  Black  Prince.  His  nobles,  one 
after  another,  fell  by  his  side,  but  he  contended  val- 
iantly to  the  last,  until,  spent  with  fatigue  and  over- 
come by  numbers,  he  surrendered.  His  son,  of  the 
same   age   as   the   son   of    the    French   Emperor,   was 

1  Milton,  II  Penseroso,  97-98. 


OTHER  FRENCH  SOVEREIGNS  CAPTURED.      273 

wounded  while  battling  for  his  father.  The  courtesy 
of  the  English  Prince  conquered  more  than  his  arms. 
I  quote  the  language  of  Hume :  — 

"  More  touched  by  Edward's  generosity  than  by  his  own 
calamities,  he  confessed,  that,  notwithstanding  his  defeat  and 
captivity,  his  honor  was  still  unimpaired,  and  that,  if  he 
yielded  the  victory,  it  was  at  least  gained  by  a  prince  of  such 
consummate  valor  and  humanity.  "  ^ 

The  King  was  taken  to  England,  where,  after  swelling 
the  triumphal  pageant  of  his  conqueror,  he  made  a  dis- 
graceful treaty  for  the  dismemberment  of  France,  which 
the  indignant  nation  would  not  ratify.  A  captivity  of 
more  than  four  years  was  terminated  by  a  ransom  of 
three  million  crowns  in  gold,  —  an  enormous  sum,  more 
than  ten  million  dollars  in  our  day.  Evidently  the  King 
was  unfortunate,  for  he  did  not  continue  in  France,  but, 
under  the  influence  of.  motives  differently  stated,  re- 
turned to  England,  where  lie  died.  Surely  here  is  a 
lesson. 

More  famous  than  John  was  Francis,  with  salaman- 
der crest,  also  King  of  France,  and  rich  in  gayety, 
whose  countenance,  depicted  by  that  art  of  which  he 
was  the  patron,  stands  forth  conspicuous  in  the  line  of 
kings.  As  the  French  Emperor  attacked  Germany,  so 
did  the  King  enter  Italy,  and  he  was  equally  confident 
of  victory.  On  the  field  of  Pa  via  he  encountered  an 
army  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  but  commanded  by  his  gen- 
erals, when,  after  fighting  desperately  and  killing  seven 
men  with  his  own  hand,  he  was  compelled  to  surrender. 
His  mother  was  at  the  time  Eegent  of  France,  and  to 

1  History  of  England,  (Oxford,  1826,)  Cli.  XVI.,  VoL  II.  p.  407. 


274   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

her  he  is  said  to  have  written  the  sententious  letter, 
"All  is  lost  except  honor."  No  such  letter  was  written 
by  Francis,^  nor  do  we  know  of  any  such  letter  by  Louis 
Napoleon;  but  the  situation  of  the  two  Eegents  was 
identical.  Here  are  the  words  in  which  Hume  describes 
the  condition  of  the  earlier :  — 

"^  The  Princess  was  struck  with  the  greatness  of  the  calam- 
ity. She  saw  the  kingdom  without  a  sovereign,  witliout  an 
army,  without  generals,  without  money,  surrounded  on  every 
side  by  implacable  and  victorious  enemies ;  and  her  chief  re- 
source, in  her  present  distresses,  were  the  hopes  which  she 
entertained  of  peace,  and  even  of  assistance  from  the  King 
of  England."  ^ 

Francis  became  the  prisoner  of  Charles  the  Fifth, 
and  was  conveyed  to  Madrid,  where,  after  a  year  of 
captivity,  he  was  at  length  released,  crying  out,  as  he 
crossed  the  French  frontier,  "  Behold  me  Kincr  af^ain  !"  ^ 
Is  not  the  fate  of  Louis  Napoleon  prefigured  in  the  ex- 
ile and  death  of  his  royal  predecessor  John,  rather  than 
in  the  return  of  Francis  with  his  delighted  cry  ? 

LOUIS   NAPOLEON. 

The  fall  of  Louis  Napoleon  is  natural.  It  is  hard  to 
see  how  it  could  be  otherwise,  so  long  as  we  continue  to 

"  assert  eternal  Providence, 
And  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  men."  * 

Had  he  remained  successful  to  the  end,  and  died  peace- 

1  Sisniondi,  Ilistoire  des  Francjais,  Tom.  XVT.  pp.  241  -  42.    Martin,  His- 
toire  de  France,  (4eme  ^dit.,)  Tom.  VIII.  pp.  67,  68. 

2  History  of  England,  (Oxford,  1826,)  Cli.  XXIX..  Vol.  IV.  p.  5L 
8  Sismondi,  Tom.  XVI.  p.  277.     Martin,  Tom.  VIII.  p.  90. 

4  Paradise  Lost,  Book  I.  25-26. 


LOUIS   NAPOLEON.  275 

fully  on  the  throne,  his  name  would  have  been  a  per- 
petual encouragement  to  dishonesty  and  crime.  By 
treachery  without  parallel,  breaking  repeated  promises 
and  his  oath  of  office,  he  was  able  to  trample  on  the 
Kepublic.  Taking  his  place  in  the  National  Assembly 
after  long  exile,  the  adventurer  made  haste  to  declare 
exultation  in  regaining  his  country  and  all  his  rights  as 
citizen,  with  the  ejaculation,  "  The  Republic  has  given 
me  this  happiness :  let  the  Republic  receive  my  oath 
of  gratitude,  my  oath  of  devotion  ! "  —  and  next  he  pro- 
claimed that  there  was  nobody  to  surpass  him  in  deter- 
mined consecration  "  to  the  defence  of  order  and  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Republic."  ^  Good  words  these. 
Then  again,  when  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  in  a 
manifesto  to  the  electors  he  gave  another  pledge,  an- 
nouncing that  he  "  would  devote  liimself  altogether, 
without  mental  reservation,  to  the  establishment  of  a 
Republic,  wise  in  its  laws,  honest  in  its  intentions,  great 
and  strong  in  its  acts " ;  and  he  volunteered  further 
words,  binding  him  in  special  loyalty,  saying  that  he 
"  should  make  it  a  23oint  of  honor  to  leave  to  his  succes- 
sor, at  the  end  of  four  years,  power  strengthened,  liberty 
intact,  real  progress  accomplished."  ^  How  these  plain 
and  unequivocal  engagements  were  openly  broken  you 
shall  see. 

Chosen  by  the  popular  voice,  his  inauguration  took 
place  as  President  of  the  Republic,  when  he  solemnly 
renewed  the  engagements  already  assumed.  Ascending 
from  his  seat  in  the  Assembly  to  the  tribune,  and  hold- 
ing up  his  hand,  he  took  the  following  oath  of  office : 
"In  presence  of   God,  and  before  the  French  people, 

1  Seance  dn  26  Septembre  1848:  Moniteur,  27  Septembre. 

2  A  ses  Coucitoyens :  (Euvres,  Tom.  IIL  p.  25. 


276   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

represented  liy  the  JSTational  Assembly,  I  swear  to  re- 
main faithful  to  the  Democratic  Republic  One  and 
Indivisible,  and  to  fulfil  all  the  duties  which  the  Con- 
stitution imposes  upon  me."  This  was  an  oath.  Then, 
addressing  the  Assembly,  he  said :  "  The  suffrages  of  the 
nation  and  the  oath  which  I  have  just  taken  prescribe 
my  future  conduct.  My  duty  is  marked  out.  I  will 
fulfil  it  as  a  man  of  honor."  Again  he  attests  his 
honor.  Then,  after  deserved  tribute  to  .his  immediate 
predecessor  and  rival,  General  Cavaignac,  on  his  loyalty 
of  character,  and  that  sentiment  of  duty  which  he  de- 
clares to  be  "  the  first  quality  in  the  chief  of  a  State," 
he  renews  his  vows  to  the  Eepublic,  saying,  "  We  have. 
Citizen  Representatives,  a  great  mission  to  fulfil ;  it  is 
to  found  a  Republic  in  the  interest  of  all " ;  and  he 
closed  amidst  cheers  for  the  Republic.-'  And  yet,  in  the 
face  of  this  oath  of  office  and  this  succession  of  most 
solemn  pledges,  where  he  twice  attests  his  honor,  he 
has  hardly  become  President  before  he  commences  plot- 
ting to  make  himself  Emperor,  until,  at  last,  by  violence 
and  blood,  with  brutal  butchery  in  the  streets  of  Paris, 
he  succeeded  in  overthrowing  the  Republic,  to  which  he 
was  bound  by  obligations  of  gratitude  and  duty,  as  well 
as  by  engagements  in  such  various  form.  The  Empire 
was  declared.  Then  followed  his  marriage,  and  a  dynas- 
tic ambition  to  assure  the  crown  for  his  son. 

Early  in  life  a  "  Charcoal "  conspirator  against  kings,^ 
he  now  became  a  crowned  conspirator  against  repub- 
lics. The  name  of  Republic  was  to  him  a  reproof,  while 
its  glory  was  a  menace.  Against  the  Roman  Republic 
he    conspired   early ;    and    when    the    I'cbellion    waged 

1  Seance  du  20  Decembre  1848:  Moniteur,  21  Ducembre. 
*  A  member  of  the  secret  society  of  the  Carbonari  in  Italy. 


LOUIS   NAPOLEON.  277 

by  Slavery  seemed  to  afford  opportunity,  lie  conspired 
against  our  Eepublic,  promoting  as  far  as  be  dared  the 
independence  of  the  Slave  States,  and  at  tbe  same  time 
on  the  ruins  of  the  Mexican  Eepublic  setting  up  a  mock 
Empire.  In  similar  spirit  has  he  conspired  against  Ger- 
man Unity,  whose  just  strength  promised  to  be  a  wall 
against  his  unprincipled  self-seeking. 

This  is  but  an  outline  of  that  incomparable  perfidy, 
which,  after  a  career  of  seeming  success,  is  brought  to  a 
close.  Of  a  fallen  man  I  would  say  nothing ;  but,  for 
the  sake  of  Humanity,  Louis  ISTapoleon  should  be  ex- 
posed. He  was  of  evil  example,  extending  with  his 
influence.  To  measure  the  vastness  of  this  detriment 
is  impossible.  In  sacrificing  the  Eepublic  to  his  own 
aggrandizement,  in  ruling  for  a  dynasty  rather  than 
the  people,  in  subordinating  the  peace  of  the  world  to 
his  own  wicked  ambition  for  his  boy,  he  set  an  exam- 
ple of  selfishness,  and  in  proportion  to  his  triumph  was 
mankind  corrupted  in  its  judgment  of  human  conduct. 
Teaching  men  to  seek  ascendency  at  the  expense  of 
duty,  he  demoralized  not  only  France,  but  the  world. 
Unquestionably  part  of  this  evil  example  was  his  false- 
hood to  the  Eepublic.  Promise,  pledge,  honor,  oath, 
were  all  violated  in  this  monstrous  treason.  Never  in 
history  was  greater  turpitude.  Unquestionably  he  could 
have  saved  the  Eepublic,  but  he  preferred  his  own  exal- 
tation. As  I  am  a  Eepublican,  and  believe  republican 
institutions  for  the  good  of  mankind,  I  cannot  pardon 
the  traitor.  The  people  of  France  are  ignorant ;  he  did 
not  care  to  have  them  educated,  for  their  ignorance  was 
his  strength.  With  education  bestowed,  the  Eepublic 
would  have  been  assured.  And  even  after  the  Empire, 
had  he  thought  more  of  education  and  less  of  his  dy- 


278   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

nasty,  there  would  have  been  a  civilization  throughout 
France  making  war  impossible.  Unquestionably  the 
present  war  is  his  work,  instituted  for  his  imagined  ad- 
vantage. Bacon,  in  one  of  his  remarkable  Essays,  tells 
us  that  "  Extreme  self-lovers  will  set  an  house  on  fire, 
and  it  were  but  to  roast  their  eggs."  ^  Louis  Napoleon 
has  set  Europe  on  fire  to  roast  his. 

Beyond  the  continuing  offence  of  his  public  life,  I 
charge  upon  him  three  s])ecial  and  unpardonable  crimes : 
first,  that  violation  of  public  duty  and  public  faith,  con- 
trary to  all  solemnities  of  promise,  by  which  the  whole 
order  of  society  was  weakened  and  human  character  was 
degraded;  secondly,  disloyalty  to  republican  institutions, 
so  that  through  him  the  Republic  has  been  arrested  in 
Europe ;  and,  thirdly,  this  cruel  and  causeless  war,  of 
which  he  is  the  guilty  author. 

RETRIBUTION. 

Of  familiar  texts  in  Scripture,  there  is  one  which, 
since  the  murderous  outbreak,  has  been  of  constant  ap- 
plicability and  force.  You  know  it :  "  All  they  that 
take  the  sword  shall  perish  with  the  sword  "  :  ^  and  these 
words  are  addressed  to  nations  as  to  individuals.  France 
took  the  sword  against  Germany,  and  now  lies  bleeding 
at  every  pore.  Louis  Napoleon  took  the  sword,  and  is 
nought.  Already  in  that  coup  d'etat  by  which  he  over- 
threw the  Eepublic  he  took  the  sword,  and  now  the 
Empire,  which  was  the  work  of  his  hands,  expires.  In 
Mexico  again  he  took  the  sword,  and  again  paid  the 
fearful  penalty,  —  while  the  Austrian  Archduke,  who, 

1  Of  Wisdom  for  a  Man's  Self :  Essay  XXIII. 

2  Matthew,  xxvi.  52. 


RETKIBUTION.  279 

yielding  to  his  pressure,  made  himself  Emperor  there, 
was  shot  by  order  of  the  Mexican  President,  an  Indian 
of  unmixed  blood.  And  here  there  was  retribution,  not 
only  for  the  French  Emperor,  but  far  beyond.  I  know 
not  if  there  be  invisible  threads  by  which  the  Present 
is  attached  to  the  distant  Past,  making  the  descendant 
suffer  even  for  a  distant  ancestor,  but  I  cannot  forget 
that  Maximilian  was  derived  from  that  very  family  of 
Charles  the  Fifth,  whose  conquering  general,  Cortes, 
stretched  the  Indian  Guatemozin  upon  a  bed  of  fire, 
and  afterwards  executed  him  on  a  tree.  The  death  of 
Maximilian  was  tardy  retribution  for  the  death  of  Gua- 
temozin.  And  thus  in  this  world  is  wrong  avenged, 
sometimes  after  many  generations.  The  fall  of  the 
French  Emperor  is  an  illustration  of  that  same  retri- 
bution which  is  so  constant.  While  he  yet  lives,  judg- 
ment has  begun. 

If  I  accumulate  instances,  it  is  because  the  certainty 
of  retribution  for  wrong,  and  especially  for  the  great 
wrong  of  War,  is  a  lesson  of  the  present  duel  to  be  im- 
pressed. Take  notice,  all  who  would  appeal  to  war, 
that  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard,  and  sooner  or 
later  he  is  overtaken.  The  ban  may  fall  tardily,  but  it 
is  sure  to  fall. 

Eetribution  in  another  form  has  already  visited  France; 
nor  is  its  terrible  vengeance  yet  spent.  Not  only  are 
populous  cities,  all  throbbing  with  life  and  filled  with 
innocent  households,  subjected  to  siege,  but  to  bombard- 
ment also, — being  that  most  ruthless  trial  of  war,  where 
non-combatants,  including  women  and  children,  sick 
and  aged,  share  with  the  soldier  his  peculiar  perils,  and 
suffer  alike  with  him.  All  are  equal  before  the  hideous 
shell,  crashing,  bursting,  destroying,  killing,  and  changing 


280   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

the  fairest  scene  into  blood-spattered  wreck.  Against 
its  vengeful,  slaughterous  descent  there  is  no  protection 
for  the  people,  —  nothing  but  an  uncertain  shelter  in 
cellars,  or,  it  may  be,  in  the  common  sewers.  Already 
Strasbourg,  Toul,  and  Metz  have  been  called  to  endure 
this  indiscriminate  massacre,  where  there  is  no  distinc- 
tion of  persons;  and  now  the  same  fate  is  threatened 
to  Paris  the  Beautiful,  with  its  thronging  population 
counted  by  the  million.  Thus  is  the  ancient  chalice 
which  France  handed  to  others  now  commended  to  her 
own  lips.  It  was  France  that  first  in  history  adopted 
this  method  of  war.  Long  ?mp,  under  Louis  the  Four- 
teenth,  it  became  a  favorite ;  but  it  has  not  escaped  the 
judgment  of  history.  Voltaire,  with  elegant  pen,  re- 
cords that  "  this  art,  carried  soon  among  other  nations, 
served  only  to  multiply  human  calamities,  and  more 
than  once  was  dreadful  to  France,  where  it  was  in- 
vented." ^  The  bombardment  of  Luxembourg  in  1683 
drew  from  Sismoudi,  always  humane  and  refined,  words 
applicable  to  recent  events.  "  Louis  the  Fourteenth," 
he  says,  "  had  been  the  first  to  put  in  practice  this 
atrocious  and  newly  invented  method  of  bombarding 
towns,  ....  of  attacking,  not  fortifications,  but  private 
houses,  not  soldiers,  but  peaceable  inhabitants,  women 
and  children,  and  of  confounding  thousands  of  private 
crimes,  each  one  of  which  would  cause  horror,  in  one 
great  public  crime,  one  great  disaster,  which  he  regarded 
as  nothing  more  than  one  of  the  catastrophes  of  war."  ^ 
Again  is  the  saying  fulfilled,  "  All  they  that  take  the 
sword  shall  perish  with  the  sword."     No  lapse  of  time 

1  Siecle  de  Louis  XIV.,  Ch.  XIV.  :  (Euvres,  (vAit  1784-89,)  Tom.  XX. 
p.  406. 

2  Histoire  des  Fran^ais,  Tom.  XXV.  pp.  452-53. 


PEA.CE  AFTER  CAPITULATION   AT   SEDAN.  281 

can  avert  the  inexorable  law.  Macbeth  saw  it  in  Ms 
terrible  imaginings,  when  he  said, — 

"But  in  these  cases 
We  still  have  judgment  here,  — that  we  but  teach 
Bloody  instructions,  which,  being  taught,  return 
To  plague  the  inventor." 

And  what  instruction  more  bloody  than  the  bombard- 
ment of  a  city,  which  now  returns  to  plague  the  French 
people  ? 

Thus  is  history  something  more  even  than  philosophy 
teaching  by  example ;  it  is  sermon  with  argument  and 
exhortation.  The  simple  record  of  nations  preaches ; 
and  whether  you  regard  reason  or  the  affections,  it  is 
the  same.  If  nations  were  wise  or  humane,  they  would 
not  fight. 

PEACE  AFTER  CAPITULATION  AT  SEDAK 

Vain  are  lessons  of  the  past  or  texts  of  prudence 
against  that  spirit  of  War  which  finds  sanction  and 
regulation  in  International  Law.  So  long  as  the  war 
system  continues,  men  will  fight.  While  I  speak,  the 
two  champions  still  stand  front  to  front,  Germany  ex- 
ulting in  victory,  but  France  in  no  respect  submissive. 
The  duel  still  rages,  although  one  of  the  champions  is 
pressed  to  earth,  as  in  that  early  combat  where  the 
ChevaKer  Bayard,  so  eminent  in  chivalry,  thrust  his 
dasser  into  the  nostrils  of  his  fallen  foe,  and  then 
dragged  his  dead  body  off  the  field.  History  now  re- 
peats itself,  and  we  witness  in  Germany  the  very  con- 
duct condemned  in  the  famous  French  knight. 

The  French  Emperor  was  the  aggressor.  He  began 
this  fatal  duel.  Let  him  fall,  —  but  not  the  people 
of  France.     Cruelly  already  have  they  expiated  theii 


282   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

offence  in  accepting  such  a  ruler.  Not  always  should 
they  suffer.  Enough  of  waste,  enough  of  sacrifice, 
enough  of  slaughter  have  they  undergone.  Enough 
have  they  felt  the  accursed  hoof  of  War, 

It  is  easy  to  see  now,  that,  after  the  capitulation  at 
Sedan,  there  was  a  double  mistake :  first,  on  the  part 
of  Germany,  which,  as  magnanimous  conqueror,  should 
have  proposed  peace,  thus  conquering  in  character  as  in 
arms ;  and,  secondly,  on  the  part  of  the  Eepublic,  which 
should  have  declined  to  wage  a  war  of  Imjjerialism, 
against  which  the  Eepublican  leaders  had  so  earnestly 
protested.  With  the  capitulation  of  the  Emperor  the 
dynastic  question  was  closed.  There  was  no  longer 
pretension  or  pretext,  nor  was  there  occasion  for  war. 
The  two  parties  should  have  come  to  an  understanding. 
Why  continue  this  terrible  homicidal,  fratricidal,  suici- 
dal combat,  fraught  with  mutual  death  and  sacrifice  ? 
Why  march  on  Paris  ?  Why  beleaguer  Paris  ?  Why 
bombard  Paris  ?  To  what  end  ?  If  for  the  humilia- 
tion of  France,  then  nmst  it  be  condemned. 

THREE   ESSENTIAL  CONDITIONS   OF  PEACE. 

In  arriving  at  terms  of  peace,  there  are  at  least  three 
conditions  which  cannot  be  overlooked  in  the  interest  of 
civilization,  and  that  the  peace  may  be  such  in  reality 
as  in  name,  and  not  an  armistice  only,  —  three  postu- 
lates which  stand  above  all  question,  and  dominate  this 
debate,  so  that  any  essential  departure  from  them  must 
end  in  wretched  failure. 

The  first  is  the  natural  requirement  of  Germany,  that 
there  shall  be  completest  guaranty  against  future  aggres- 
sion, constituting  what  is  so  well  kuuwn  among  us  as 


INDEMNITY   OF   GERMANY.  283 

"  Security  for  the  Future."  Count  Bismarck,  with  an 
exaggeration  hardly  pardonable,  alleges  more  than 
twenty  invasions  of  Germany  by  France,  and  declares 
that  these  must  be  stopped  forever.^  Many  or  few, 
they  must  be  stopped  forever.  The  second  condition  to 
be  regarded  is  the  natural  requirement  of  France,  that 
the  guaranty,  while  sufficient,  shall  be  such  as  not 
to  wound  needlessly  the  sentiments  of  the  French 
people,  or  to  ofi'end  any  principle  of  public  law.  It  is 
difficult  to  question  these  two  postulates,  at  least  in  the 
abstract.  Only  when  we  come  to  the  application  is 
there  opportunity  for  difierence.  The  third  postulate, 
demanded  alike  by  justice  and  humanity,  is  the  estab- 
lishment of  some  rule  or  precedent  by  which  the  recur- 
rence of  such  a  barbarous  duel  shall  be  prevented.  It 
will  not  be  enough  to  obtain  a  guaranty  for  Germany ; 
there  must  be  a  guaranty  for  Civilization  itself. 

On  careful  inquiry,  it  will  be  seen  that  all  these  can 
be  accomplished  in  one  way  only,  which  I  will  describe, 
when  I  have  first  shown  what  is  now  put  forward  and 
discussed  as  the  claim  of  Germany,  under  two  diflerent 
heads.  Indemnity  and  Guaranty. 

INDEMNITY  OF  GERMANY. 

I  HAVE  already  spoken  of  Guaranty  as  an  essential 
condition.  Indemnity  is  not  essential.  At  the  close 
of  our  war  with  Slavery  we  said  nothing  of  indemnity. 
For  the  life  of  the  citizen  there  could  be  no  indemnity ; 
nor  was  it  practicable  even  for  the  treasure  sacrificed. 
Security  for  the  Future  was  all  that  our  nation  required, 

1  Circular  of  September  16,  1870 :  Foi'eign  Relations  of  the  United 
States, — Executive  Documents,  41st  Cong.  3d  Sess.,  H.  of  R.,  Vol.  I. 
No.  1,  Parti,  pp.  212-13. 


>yfvv 


284   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

and  this  was  found  in  provisions  of  Law  and  Constitu- 
tion establishing  Equal  Eights.  From  various  intima- 
tions it  is  evident  that  Germany  will  not  be  content 
without  indemnity  in  money  on  a  large  scale ;  and  it 
is  also  evident  that  France,  the  aggressor,  cannot,  when 
conquered,  deny  liability  to  a  certain  extent.  The  ques- 
tion will  be  on  the  amount.  Already  German  calcula- 
tors begin  to  array  their  unrelenting  figures.  One  of 
these  insists  that  the  indemnity  shall  not  only  cover 
outlay  for  the  German  Army,  —  pensions  of  widows 
and  invalids,  —  maintenance  and  support  of  French 
wounded  and  prisoners,  —  compensation  to  Germans 
expelled  from  France,  —  also  damage  suffered  by  the 
territory  to  be  annexed,  especially  Strasbourg ;  but  it  is 
also  to  cover  indirect  damages,  large  in  amount,  —  as, 
loss  to  the  nation  from  change  of  productive  laborers 
into  soldiers,  —  loss  from  killing  and  disabling  so  many 
laborers,  —  and,  generally,  loss  from  suspension  of  trade 
and  manufactures,  depreciation  of  national  property, 
and  diminution  of  the  public  revenues  :  —  all  of  which, 
according  to  a  recent  estimate,  reach  the  fearful  sum- 
total  of  4,935,000,000  francs,  or  nearly  one  thousand 
million  dollars.  Of  this  sum,  1,255,000,000  francs  are 
on  account  of  the  Army,  1,230,000,000  for  direct  dam- 
age, 2,250,000,000  for  indirect  damage,  and  200,000,000 
for  damage  to  the  reconquered  provinces.  Still  further, 
the  Berlin  Chamber  of  Commerce  insists  on  indemnity 
not  only  for  actual  loss  of  ships  and  cargoes  from  the 
blockade,  but  also  for  damages  on  account  of  detention. 
Much  of  this  many-headed  account,  which  I  introduce 
in  order  to  open  the  case  in  its  extent,  will  be  opposed 
by  France,  as  fabulous,  consequential,  and  remote.  The 
practical  question  will  be.  Can  one  nation  do  wrong  to 


GUARANTY   OF   DISMEMBERMENT.  285 

another  without  paying  for  the  damage,  whatever  it 
may  be,  direct  or  indirect,  —  always  provided  it  be 
susceptible  of  estimate  ?  Here  I  content  myself  with 
the  remark,  that,  while  in  the  settlement  of  interna- 
tional differences  there  is  no  place  for  technicality, 
there  is  always  room  for  moderation. 

GUARANTY   OF   DISMEMBERMENT. 

Vast  as  may  be  the  claim  of  indemnity,  it  opens 
no  question  so  calculated  to  touch  the  sensibilities  of 
France  as  the  claim  of  guaranty  already  announced  by 
Germany.  On  this  head  we  are  not  left  to  conjecture. 
From  her  first  victory  we  have  been  assured  that  Ger- 
many would  claim  Alsace  and  German  Lorraine,  with 
their  famous  strongholds ;  and  now  we  have  the  state- 
ment of  Count  Bismarck,  in  a  diplomatic  circular,  that 
he  expects  to  remove  the  German  frontier  further 
west,  —  meaning  to  the  Vosges  Mountains,  if  not  to 
the  Moselle  also,  —  and  to  convert  the  fortresses  into 
what  he  calls  "  defensive  strongholds  of  Germany."  ^ 
Then,  with  larger  view,  he  declares,  that,  "  in  rendering 
it  more  difficult  for  France,  from  whom  all  European 
troubles  have  so  long  proceeded,  to  assume  the  offen- 
sive, we  likewise  promote  the  common  interest  of  Eu- 
rope, which  demands  the  preservation  of  peace."  Here 
is  just  recognition  of  peace  as  the  common  interest  of 
Europe,  to  be  assured  by  disabling  France.  How  shall 
this  be  done  ?  The  German  Minister  sees  nothing  but 
dismemberment,  consecrated  by  a  Treaty  of  Peace. 
With  diplomatic  shears  he  would  cut  off  a  portion  of 
French  territory,  and,  taking  from  it  the  name  of  France, 

1  Circiilar  of  September  16,  1870,  — uhi  supra,  p.  49,  Note  1. 


28G   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

stamp  upon  it  the  trade-mark  of  Germany.  Two  of  its 
richest  and  most  precious  provinces,  for  some  two  hun- 
dred years  constituent  parts  of  the  great  nation,  with 
that  ancient  cathedral  city,  the  pride  of  the  lUiine,  long 
years  ago  fortified  by  A^auban  as  "  the  strongest  barrier 
of  France,"  ^  are  to  be  severed,  and  with  them  a  large 
and  industrious  population,  which,  while  preserving  the 
German  language,  have  so  far  blended  with  France  as 
to  become  Frenchmen.  This  is  the  German  proposition, 
which  I  call  tlie  Guaranty  of  Dismemberment. 

One  argument  for  this  proposition  is  brushed  aside 
easily.  Had  the  fortune  of  war  been  adverse  to  Ger- 
many, it  is  said,  peace  would  have  been  dictated  at  Ber- 
lin, perhaps  at  Konigsberg,  and  France  would  have 
carried  her  frontier  eastward  to  the  Ehine,  dismember- 
ing Germany.  Such,  I  doubt  not,  would  have  been  the 
attempt.  The  conception  is  entirely  worthy  of  that 
Imperial  levity  with  which  the  war  began.  But  the 
madcap  menace  of  the  French  Empire  cannot  be  the 
measure  of  German  justice.  It  is  for  Germany  to  show, 
that,  notwithstanding  this  wildness,  she  knows  how  to 
be  just.  Dismemberment  on  this  account  would  be 
only  another  form  of  retaliation ;  but  retaliation  is 
barbarous. 

To  the  argument,  that  these  provinces,  with  their 
strongholds,  are  needed  for  the  defence  of  Germany, 
there  is  the  obvious  reply,  that,  if  cut  off  from  France 
contrary  to  the  wishes  of  the  local  population,  and 
with  the  French  people  in  chronic  irritation  on  this 
account,  they  will  be  places  of  weakness  rather  than 
strength,  strongholds  of  disaffection  rather  than  defence, 

1  Voltaire,  Siecle  de  Louis  XIV.,  Ch.  XIV.:  (Euvres,  (edit.  1784-89,) 
Tom.  XX.  p.  403. 


GUARANTY  OF   DISMEMBERMENT.  287 

to  be  held  always  at  the  cannon's  mouth.  Does  Ger- 
many seek  lasting  peace  ?  Not  in  this  way  can  it  be 
had.  A  painful  exaction,  enforced  by  triumphant  arms, 
must  create  a  sentiment  of  hostility  in  France,  sup- 
pressed for  a  season,  but  ready  at  a  propitious  moment 
to  break  forth  in  violence ;  so  that  between  the  two 
conterminous  nations  there  will  be  nothing  better  than 
a  peace  where  each  sleeps  on  its  arms,  —  which  is  but 
an  Armed  Peace.  Such  for  weary  years  has  been  the 
condition  of  nations.  Is  Germany  determined  to  pro- 
long the  awful  curse  ?  Will  her  most  enlightened 
people,  with  poetry,  music,  literature,  philosophy,  sci- 
ence, and  religion  as  constant  ministers,  to  whom  has 
been  opened  in  rarest  degree  the  whole  book  of  knowl- 
edge, persevere  in  a  brutal  policy  belonging  to  another 
age,  and  utterly  alien  to  that  superior  civilization  which 
is  so  truly  theirs  ? 

There  is  another  consideration,  not  only  of  justice, 
but  of  public  law,  which  cannot  be  overcome.  The 
people  of  these  provinces  are  unwilling  to  be  separat- 
ed from  France.  This  is  enough.  France  cannot  sell  or 
transfer  them  against  their  consent.  Consult  the  great 
masters,  and  you  will  find  their  concurring  authority. 
Grotius,  from  whom  on  such  a  question  there  can  be  no 
appeal,  adjudges:  "In  the  alienation  of  a  part  of  the 
sovereignty  it  is  required  that  the  part  which  is  to  he 
alienated  consent  to  the  act.''  According  to  him,  it  must 
not  be  supposed  "  that  the  body  should  have  the  right 
of  cutting  off  parts  from  itself  and  giving  them  into  the 
authority  of  another."  ^  Of  the  same  opinion  is  Pufen- 
dorf,  declaring :  "  The  sovereign  who  attempts  to  trans- 
fer his  kingdom  to  another  by  his  sole  authority  does 

1  De  Jure  Belli  et  Pacis,  tr.  Whewell,  Lib.  II.  Cap.  6,  §  4. 


288       THE   DUEL   BETWEEN    FRANCE   AND   GERMANY. 

an  act  in  itself  null  and  void,  and  not  binding  on  his 
subjects.  To  make  such  a  conveyance  valid,  the  con- 
sent of  the  people  is  required,  as  well  as  of  the  prince."  ^ 
Vattel  crowns  this  testimony,  when  he  adds,  that  a 
province  or  city,  "abandoned  and  dismembered  from 
the  State,  is  not  obliged  to  receive  the  new  master 
proposed  to  be  given  it."  ^  Before  such  texts,  stronger 
than  a  fortress,  the  soldiers  of  Germany  must  halt. 

Nor  can  it  be  forgotten  how  inconsistent  is  the  guar- 
anty of  Dismemberment  with  that  heroic  passion  for  na- 
tional unity  which  is  the  glory  of  Germany.  National 
unity  is  not  less  the  right  of  France  than  of  Germany ; 
and  these  provinces,  though  in  former  centuries  German, 
and  still  preserving  the  German  speech,  belong  to  the 
existing  unity  of  France,  —  unless,  according  to  the  pop- 
ular song,  the  German's  Fatherland  extends 

"  Far  as  the  German  accent  rings"; 

and  then  the  conqueror  must  insist  on  Switzerland ;  and 
why  not  cross  the  Atlantic,  to  dictate  laws  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Chicago  ?  But  this  same  song  has  a  better 
verse,  calling  that  the  German's  Fatherland 

"Where  in  the  heart  love  warmly  lies." 

But  in  these  coveted  provinces  it  is  the  love  for  France, 
and  not  for  Germany,  which  prevails. 

GUARANTY   OF  DISARMAMENT. 

The  Guaranty  of  Dismemberment,  when  brought  to 
the  touchstone  of  the  three  essential  conditions,  is  found 
wanting.      Dismissing  it  as  unsatisfactory,  I  come  to 

1  De  Jure  Natura;  et  Gentium,  Lih.  VIII.  Cap.  5,  §  9. 
a  Le  Droit  des  Gens,  Liv.  T    ch.  21,  §  264. 


GUARANTY   OF   DISARMAMENT.  289 

that  other  guaranty  where  these  conditions  are  all  ful- 
filled, and  we  find  security  for  Germany  without  offence 
to  the  just  sentiments  of  France,  and  also  a  new  safe- 
guard to  civilization.  Against  the  Guaranty  of  Dismem- 
berment I  oppose  the  Guaranty  of  Disarmament.  By 
Disarmament  I  mean  the  razing  of  the  French  fortifica- 
tions and  tlie  abolition  of  the  standing  army,  except 
that  minimum  of  force  required  for  purposes  of  police. 
How  completely  this  satisfies  the  conditions  already 
named  is  obvious.  For  Germany  there  would  be  on  the 
side  of  France  absolute  repose,  so  that  Count  Bismarck 
need  not  fear  another  invasion,  —  while  France,  saved 
from  intolerable  humiliation,  would  herself  be  free  to 
profit  by  the  new  civilization. 

Nor  is  this  guaranty  otherwise  than  practical  in  every 
respect,  and  the  more  it  is  examined  the  more  will  its 
inestimable  advantage  be  apparent. 

1.  There  is,  first,  its  most  obvious  economy,  which  is 
so  glaring,  that,  according  to  a  familiar  French  expres- 
sion, "  it  leaps  into  the  eyes."  Undertaking  even  briefly 
to  set  it  forth,  I  seem  to  follow  the  proverb  and  "  show 
the  sun  with  a  lantern."  According  to  the  "  Almanach 
de  Gotha,"  the  appropriations  for  the  army  of  France, 
during  the  year  of  peace  before  the  war,  were  588,852, 
970  francs,^  —  or  about  one  hundred  and  seventeen 
millions  of  dollars.  Give  up  the  Standing  Army  and 
this  considerable  sum  disappears  from  the  annual  bud- 
get. But  this  retrenchment  represents  only  partially 
the  prodigious  economy.  Beyond  the  annual  outlay  is 
the  loss  to  the  nation  by  the  change  of  producers  into 
non-producers.  Admitting  that  in  France  the  average 
annual  production  of  a  soldier  usefully  employed  would 

1  Almanacli  de  Gotha,  1870,  p.  599. 


290   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FKANXE  AND  GERMANY. 

be  only  fifty  dollars,  and  multiplying  this  small  allow- 
ance by  the  numbers  of  the  Standing  Army,  you  have 
another  amount  to  be  piled  upon  the  military  appropri- 
ations. Is  it  too  much  to  expect  that  this  surpassing 
waste  shall  be  stopped  ?  Must  the  extravagance  born 
of  war,  and  nursed  by  long  tradition,  continue  to  drain 
the  resources  of  the  land  ?  Where  is  reas6n  ?  Where 
humanity  ?  A  decree  abolishing  the  Standing  Army 
would  be  better  for  the  French  people,  and  more  pro- 
ductive, than  the  richest  gold-mine  discovered  in  every 
department  of  France.  Nor  can  imagination  picture 
the  fruitful  result.  I  speak  now  only  in  the  light  of 
economy.  Relieved  from  intolerable  burden,  industry 
would  lift  itself  to  unimagined  labors,  and  society  be 
quickened  anew, 

2.  Beyond  this  economy,  which  need  not  be  argued, 
is  the  positive  advantage,  if  not  necessity,  of  such  change 
for  France.  I  do  not  speak  on  general  grounds  applica- 
ble to  all  nations,  but  on  grounds  peculiar  to  France  at 
the  present  moment.  Emerging  from  a  most  destructive 
war,  she  will  be  subjected  to  enormous  and  unprece- 
dented contributions  of  every  kind.  After  satisfying 
Germany,  she  will  find  other  obligations  at  home, — 
some  pressing  directly  upon  the  nation,  and  others  upon 
individuals.  Beyond  the  outstanding  pay  of  soldiers, 
requisitions  for  sup])lies,  pensions  for  the  wounded  and 
the  families  of  the  dead,  and  other  extraordinary  lia- 
bilities accumulating  as  never  before  in  the  same  time, 
there  will  be  the  duty  of  renewing  that  internal  pros- 
perit)''  which  has  received  such  a  shock ;  and  here  the 
work  of  restoration  will  be  costly,  whether  to  the  nation 
or  the  individual.  Eevenue  must  be  regained,  roads 
and  bridges    repaired,    markets  suj^plied ;   nor  can  we 


GUAEANTY   OF   DISAEMAMENT.  291 

omit  the  large  and  multitudinous  losses  from  ravage  of 
fields,  seizure  of  stock,  suspension  of  business,  stoppage 
of  manufactures,  interference  with  agriculture,  and  the 
whole  terrible  drain  of  war  by  which  the  people  are 
impoverished  and  disabled.  If  to  the  necessary  appro- 
priation and  expenditure  for  all  these  things  is  super- 
added the  annual  tax  of  a  Standing  Army,  and  that 
other  draft  from  the  change  of  producers  into  non- 
producers,  plainly  here  is  a  supplementary  burden  of 
crushing  weight.  Talk  of  the  last  feather  breaking 
the  back  of  the  camel,  —  but  never  was  camel  loaded 
down  as  France. 

3.  Beyond  even  these  considerations  of  economy  and 
advantage  I  put  the  transcendent,  priceless  benefit  of 
Disarmament  in  the  assurance,  of  peace.  Disarmament 
substitutes  the  constable  for  the  soldier,  and  reduces  the 
Standing  Army  to  a  police.  The  argument  assumes, 
first,  the  needlessness  of  a  Standing  Army,  and,  sec- 
ondly, its  evil  influence.  Both  of  these  points  were 
touched  at  an  early  day  by  the  wise  Chancellor  of  Eng- 
land, Sir  Thomas  More,  when,  in  his  practical  and  per- 
sonal Introduction  to  "  Utopia,"  he  alludes  to  what  he 
calls  the  "  bad  custom  "  of  keeping  many  servants,  and 
then  says :  "  In  France  there  is  yet  a  more  pestiferous 
sort  of  people ;  for  the  whole  country  is  full  of  soldiers, 
that  are  still  kept  up  in  time  of  peace,  —  if  such  a  state 
of  a  nation  can  be  called  a  peace."  Then,  proceeding 
with  his  judgment,  the  Chancellor  holds  up  what  he 
calls  those  "  pretended  statesmen  "  whose  maxim  is  that 
"  it  is  necessary  for  the  public  safety  to  have  a  good 
body  of  veteran  soldiers  ever  in  readiness."  And  after 
saying  that  these  pretended  statesmen  "  sometimes  seek 
occasion  for  making  war,  that  they  may  train  up  their 


292   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FKANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

soldiers  in  the  art  of  cutting  throats,"  he  adds,  in  words 
soon  to  be  tested,  "  But  France  has  learned,  to  its  cost, 
how  dangerous  it  is  to  feed  such  beasts."  ^  It  will  be 
well,  if  France  has  learned  this  important  lesson.  The 
time  has  come  to  practise  it. 

All  history  is  a  vain  word,  and  all  experience  is  at 
fault,  if  large  War  Preparations,  of  which  the  Standing- 
Army  is  the  type,  have  not  been  constant  provocatives 
of  war.  Pretended  protectors  against  war,  they  have 
been  real  instigators  to  war.  They  have  excited  the 
evil  against  which  they  were  to  guard.  The  habit  of 
wearing  arms  in  private  life  exercised  a  kindred  influ- 
ence. So  long  as  this  habit  continued,  society  was 
darkened  by  personal  combat,  street-fight,  duel,  and  as- 
sassination. The  Standing  Army  is  to  the  nation  what 
the  sword  was  to  the  modern  gentleman,  the  stiletto  to 
the  Italian,  the  knife  to  the  Spaniard,  the  pistol  to  our 
slave-master,  —  furnishing,  like  these,  the  means  of 
death ;  and  its  possessor  is  not  slow  to  use  it.  In  stat- 
ing the  operation  of  this  system  we  are  not  left  to  in- 
ference. As  France,  according  to  Sir  Thomas  More, 
shows  "how  dangerous  it  is  to  feed  such  beasts,"  so 
does  Prussia,  in  ever-memorable  instance,  which  speaks 
now  with  more  than  ordinary  authority,  show  precisely 
how  the  Standing  Army  may  become  the  incentive  to 
war.  Frederick,  the  warrior  king,  is  our  witness.  With 
honesty  or  impudence  beyond  parallel,  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  record  in  his  Memoirs,  among  the  reasons  for  his 
war  upon  Maria  Theresa,  that,  on  coming  to  the  throne, 
he  found  himself  with  "troops  always  ready  to  act." 
Voltaire,  when   called   to    revise    the    royal    memoirs, 

1  Utopia,  tr.  Burnet,  (Loudoi),  1845,)  Book  I.  pp.  29,  30. 


GUARANTY   OF   DISARMAMENT.  293 

erased  this  confession,  but  preserved  a  copy;^  so  that 
by  his  literary  activity  we  have  this  kingly  authority 
for  the  mischief  from  a  Standing  Army.  How  com- 
plete a  weapon  was  that  army  may  be  learned  from 
Lafayette,  who,  in  a  letter  to  Washington,  in  1786,  after 
a  visit  to  the  King,  described  it  thus  :  —     • 

"  Nothing  can  be  compared  to  the  beauty  of  the  troops,  to 
the  discipHne  wliich  reigns  in  all  their  ranks,  to  the  sim- 
plicity of  their  movements,  to  the  uniformity  of  their  regi- 
ments  All  the  situations  which  can  be  supposed  in 

war,  all  the  movements  which  these  must  necessitate,  have 
been  by  constant  habit  so  inculcated  in  their  heads,  that  all 
these  operations  are  done  almost  mechanically."^ 

Nothing  better  has  been  devised  since  the  Macedo- 
nian phalanx  or  the  Roman  legion.  With  such  a  weap- 
on ready  to  his  hands,  the  King  struck  Maria  Theresa. 
And  think  you  that  the  present  duel  between  France 
and  Germany  could  have  been  waged,  had  not  both  na- 
tions found  themselves,  like  Frederick  of  Prussia,  with 
"troops  always  ready  to  act"  ?  It  was  the  possession  of 
these  troops  which  made  the  two  parties  rush  so  swiftly 
to  the  combat.  Is  not  the  lesson  perfect  ?  Already 
individuals  have  disarmed.  Civilization  requires  that 
nations  shall  do  likewise. 

Thus  is  Disarmament  enforced  on  three  several 
grounds :  first,  economy ;  secondly,  positive  advantage, 
if  not  necessity,  for  France ;  and,  thirdly,  assurance  of 
peace.  No  other  guaranty  promises  so  much.  Does 
any  other  guaranty  promise  anything  beyond  the  acci- 

1  Brougham,  Lives  of  Men  of  Letters,  (London  and  Glasgow,  1856,)  p.  59, 
—  Voltaire.  See  also  Voltaire,  Memoires  pour  servir  d  la  Vie  de,  ecrits  par 
lui-mS)ne,  (^dit.  1784-89,)  Tom.  LXX.  p.  279;  also  Frederic  II.,  Hisioire 
de  mon  Temps,  CEuvres  Postliumes,  (Berlin,  1789,)  Tom.  I.  Part.  I.  p.  78. 

2  Memoires,  Tom.  II.  p.  133. 


294       THE   DUEL   BETWEEN   FRANCE   AND   GERMANY. 

dent  of  force  ?  Nor  would  France  be  alone.  Dismiss- 
ing to  the  arts  of  peace  the  large  army  victorious  over 
Slavery,  our  Republic  has  shown  how  disarmament  can 
be  accomplished.  The  example  of  France,  so  entirely 
I  reasonable,  so  ])rofitable,  so  pacific,  and  so  harmonious 
with  ours,  would  spread.  Conquering  Germany  could 
not  resist  its  influence.  Nations  are  tauglit  by  example 
more  than  by  precept,  and  either  is  better  than  force. 
Other  nations  would  follow  ;  nor  would  Russia,  elevated 
by  her  great  act  of  Enfranchisement,  fail  to  seize  her 
sublime  opportunity.  Popular  rights,  which  are  strong- 
est always  in  assured  peace,  would  have  new  triumphs. 
Instead  of  Trial  by  Battle  for  the  decision  of  differences 
between  nations,  there  would  be  peaceful  substitutes,  as 
Arbitration,  or,  it  may  be,  a  Congress  of  Nations,  and 
the  United  States  of  Europe  would  appear  above  the 
subsiding  waters.  The  old  juggle  of  Balance  of  Power, 
which  has  rested  like  a  nightmare  on  Europe,  would 
disappear,  like  that  other  less  bloody  fiction  of  Balance 
of  Trade,  and  nations,  like  individuals,  would  all  be 
equal  before  the  law.  Here  our  own  country  furnishes 
an  illustration.  So  long  as  slavery  prevailed  among  us, 
there  was  an  attempt  to  preserve  what  was  designated 
balance  of  power  between  the  North  and  South,  pivot- 
ing on  Slavery,  —  just  as  in  Europe  there  has  been  an 
attempt  to  preserve  balance  of  power  among  nations 
pivoting  on  War.  Too  tardily  is  it  seen  that  this  fa- 
mous balance,  which  has  played  such  a  part  at  home 
and  abroad,  is  but  an  artificial  contrivance  instituted  by 
power,  which  must  give  place  to  a  simple  accord  derived 
from  the  natural  condition  of  things.  Why  should  not 
the  harmony  which  has  begun  at  home  be  extended 
abroad  ?      Practicable  and  beneficent  here,  it  must  be 


KING  WILLIAM  AND   COUNT   BISMARCK.  295 

the  same  there.  Then  would  nations  exist  without  per- 
petual and  reciprocal  watchfulness.  But  the  first  step 
is  to  discard  the  wasteful,  oppressive,  and  pernicious 
provocative  to  war,  which  is  yet  maintained  at  such  ter- 
rible cost.  To-day  this  glorious  advance  is  presented  to 
France  and  Germany. 

KING  WILLIAM  AND  COUNT   BISMARCK. 

Two  personages  at  this  moment  hold  in  their  hands 
the  great  question  teeming  with  a  new  civilization. 
Honest  and  determined,  both  are  patriotic  rather  than 
cosmopolitan  or  Christian,  believing  in  Prussia  rather 
than  Humanity.  And  the  patriotism  so  strong  in  each 
keeps  still  the  early  tinge  of  iron.  I  refer  to  King 
William  and  his  Prime-Minister,  Count  Bismarck. 

More  than  any  other  European  sovereign,  William 
of  Prussia  possesses  the  infatuation  of  "divine  right." 
He  believes  that  he  was  appointed  by  God  to  be  King 
—  differing  here  from  Louis  Napoleon,  who  in  a  spirit 
of  compromise  entitled  himself  Emperor  "  by  the  grace 
of  God  and  the  national  will."  This  infatuation  was 
illustrated  at  his  coronation  in  ancient  Konissberfj, — 
first  home  of  Prussian  royalty,  and  better  famous  as 
birthplace  and  lifelong  home  of  Immanuel  Kant, — 
when  the  King  enacted  a  scene  of  melodrama  which 
might  be  transferred  from  the  church  to  the  theatre. 
No  other  person  was  allowed  to  place  the  crown  on  his 
royal  head.  Lifting  it  from  the  altar,  where  it  rested, 
he  placed  it  on  his  head  himself,  in  sign  that  he  held 
it  from  Heaven  and  not  from  man,  and  next  placed  an- 
other on  the  head  of  the  Queen,  in  sign  that  her  dignity 
was  derived  from  him.    Then,  turning  round,  he  grasped 


296       THE   DUEL   BETWEEN   FRANCE   AND   GEllM.U^Y. 

the  sword  of  state,  in  testimony  of  readiness  to  defend 
the  nation.  Since  the  Battle  of  Sadowa,  when  the  Aus- 
trian Empire  was  so  suddenly  shattered,  he  has  believed 
himself  providential  sword-bearer  of  Germany,  destined, 
perhaps,  to  revive  the  old  glories  of  Barbarossa.  His 
habits  are  soldierly,  and,  notwithstanding  his  seventy- 
three  winters,  he  continues  to  find  pleasure  in  Avearing 
the  spiked  helmet  of  the  Prussian  camp.  Eepuldicans 
smile  when  he  speaks  of  "  my  array,"  "  my  allies,"  and 
"  my  people  " ;  but  this  egotism  is  the  natural  expres- 
sion of  the  monarchical  character,  especially  wliere  the 
monarch  believes  that  he  holds  by  "  divine  right."  His 
public  conduct  is  in  harmony  with  these  conditions. 
He  is  a  Protestant,  and  rules  the  land  of  Luther,  but 
he  is  no  friend  to  modern  Eeform.  The  venerable  S3's- 
tem  of  war  and  prerogative  is  part  of  his  inheritance 
handed  down  from  fighting  despots^  and  he  evidently 
believes  in  it. 

His  Minister,  Count  Bismarck,  is  the  partisan  of  "  di- 
vine right,"  and,  like  the  King,  regards  with  satisfaction 
that  hierarchical  feudalism  from  which  they  are  both 
derived.  He  is  noble,  and  believes  in  nobility.  He 
believes  also  in  force,  as  if  he  had  the  blood  of  the  god 
Thor.  He  believes  in  war,  and  does  not  hesitate  to 
throw  its  "  iron  dice,"  insisting  upon  the  rigors  of  the 
game.  As  the  German  question  began  to  lower,  his 
policy  was  most  persistent.  "  Not  by  speeches  and 
votes  of  the  majority,"  he  said  in  1862,  "are  the  great 
questions  of  the  time  decided,  —  that  was  the  error  of 
1848  and  1849,  —  lut  hy  iron  and  blood."  ^     Thus  expli- 

1  "  Nicht  durch  Reden  und  Majoritats'beschlusse  werden  die  grossen  Fra- 
gen  der  Zeit  entscliiedeii,  — das  ist  der  Fehler  von  1848  mid  1849  gLnveseii,  — 
sondern  durch  Eisen  und  Blut." — Aeusserungen  in  der  Badyetkummission, 
September,  1862. 


KING   WILLIAM   AND   COUNT   BISMARCK.  297 

cit  was  he.  Having  a  policy,  he  became  its  representa- 
tive, and  very  soon  thereafter  controlled  the  counsels  of 
his  sovereign,  coming  swiftly  before  the  world ;  and  yet 
his  elevation  was  tardy.  Born  in  1815,  he  did  not  en- 
ter upon  diplomacy  until  1851,  when  thirty-six  years  of 
age,  and  only  in  1862  became  Prussian  Minister  at 
Paris,  whence  he  was  soon  transferred  to  the  Cabinet 
at  Berlin  as  Prime-Minister.  Down  to  that  time  he 
was  little  known.  His  name  is  not  found  in  any  edi- 
tion of  the  bulky  French  Dictionary  of  Contempora- 
ries,^ not  even  its  "  Additions  and  Eectifications,"  until 
the  Supplement  of  1863.  But  from  this  time  he  drew 
so  large  a  share  of  public  attention  that  the  contempo- 
rary press  of  the  world  became  the  dictionary  where  his 
name  was  always  found.  Nobody  doubts  his  intellec- 
tual resources,  his  courage,  or  strength  of  will ;  but  it  is 
felt  that  he  is  naturally  hard,  and  little  affected  by  hu- 
man sympathy.  Therefore  is  he  an  excellent  war  min- 
ister. It  remains  to  be  seen  if  he  will  do  as  much  for 
peace.  His  one  idea  has  been  the  unity  of  Germany 
under  the  primacy  of  Prussia ;  and  here  he  encountered 
Austria,  as  he  now  encounters  France.  But  in  that 
larger  unity  where  nations  will  be  conjoined  in  har- 
mony he  can  do  less,  so  long  at  least  as  he  continues 
a  fanatic  for  kings  and  a  cynic  towards  popular  insti- 
tutions. 

Such  is  the  King,  and  such  his  Minister.  I  have  de- 
scribed them  that  you  may  see  how  little  help  the  great 
ideas  already  germinating  from  bloody  fields  will  receive 
from  them.     In  this  respect  they  are  as  one. 

*  Vapereau,  Dictionnaire  Universel  des  Contemporains. 


298      THE  DUEL  BETWEEN   FRANCE  AND   GERMANY. 

TWO  INFLUENCES   VERSUS  WAR  SYSTEM. 

Beyond  the  most  persuasive  influence  of  civilization, 
pleading,  as  never  before,  with  voice  of  reason  and  af- 
fection, that  the  universal  tyrant  and  master-evil  of 
Christendom,  the  War  System,  may  cease,  and  the 
means  now  absorbed  in  its  support  be  employed  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Human  Family,  there  are  two  special  in- 
fluences which  cannot  be  without  weight  at  this  time. 
The  first  is  German  authority  in  the  writings  of  philos- 
ophers, by  whom  Germany  rules  in  thought ;  and  the 
second  is  the  uprising  of  the  working-men:  both 
against  war  as  acknowledged  arbiter  between  nations, 
and  insisting  upon  peaceful  substitutes. 

AUTHORITY   OF  THE  GERMAN   MIND. 

More  than  any  other  nation  Germany  has  suffered 
from  war.  Without  that  fatal  gift  of  beauty,  "  a  dowry 
fraught  with  never-ending  pain,"  wliich  tempted  the 
foreigner  to  Italy,  her  lot  has  been  hardly  less  wretch- 
ed; but  Germany  has  differed  from  Italy  in  the  suc- 
cessful bravery  with  which  she  repelled  the  invader. 
Tacitus  says  of  her  people,  that,  "  surrounded  by  numer- 
ous and  very  powerful  nations,  they  are  safe,  not  by 
obsequiousness,  but  by  battles  and  braving  danger " ;  ^ 
and  this  same  character,  thus  epigrammatically  pre- 
sented, has  continued  ever  since.  Yet  this  was  not 
without  that  painful  experience  which  teaches  what 
Art  has  so  often  attempted  to  picture  and  Eloquence  to 
describe,  "  The  Miseries  of  War."     Again  in  that  same 

1  " Plurimis  ac  valentissimis  nationibns  cincti,  non  per  obsequium,  sed 
prceliis  et  periclitando  tuti  sunt."  —  Germania,  Cap.  XL. 


AUTHOKITY  OF  THE  GERMAN  MIND.       299 

fearless  spirit  has  Germany  driven  back  the  invader, 
while  War  is  seen  anew  in  its  atrocious  works.  But  it 
was  not  merely  the  Miseries  of  War  which  Germans 
regarded.  The  German  mind  is  philosophical  and  sci- 
entific, and  it  early  saw  the  irrational  character  of  the 
War  System.  It  is  well  known  that  Henry  the  Fourth 
of  France  conceived  the  idea  of  Harmony  among  Na- 
tions without  War;  and  his  plan  was  taken  up  and  elab- 
orated in  numerous  writings  by  the  good  Abbe  de  Saint- 
Pierre,  so  that  he  made  it  his  own.  Eousseau,  in  his 
treatise  on  the  subject,^  popularized  Saint-Pierre.  But 
it  is  to  Germany  that,  we  must  look  for  the  most  com- 
plete and  practical  development  of  this  beautiful  idea. 
If  French  in  origin,  it  is  German  now  in  authority. 

The  greatest  minds  in  Germany  have  dealt  with  this 
problem,  and  given  to  its  solution  tlie  exactness  of  sci- 
ence. No  greater  have  been  applied  to  any  question. 
Foremost  in  this  list,  in  time  and  in  fame,  is  Leibnitz, 
that  marvel  of  human  intelligence,  second,  perhaps,  to 
none  in  history,  who,  on  reading  the  "  Project  of  Perpet- 
ual Peace "  by  the  Abbe  de  Saint-Pierre,  pronounced 
this  judgment :  "  I  have  read  it  with  attention,  and  am 
persuaded  that  such  a  project  is  on  the  whole  feasible, 
and  that  its  executiou  would  be  one  of  the  most  useful 
things  in  the  world."  ^  Thus  did  Leibnitz  affirm  its 
feasibility  and  its  immense  usefulness.  Other  minds 
followed,  in  no  apparent  concert,  but  in  unison.  I  may 
be  pardoned,  if,  without  being  too  bibliograpliical,  I 
name  some  of  these  witnesses. 

1  J.  J.  Rousseau,  Extrait  du  Projet  de  Paix  Perpetuelle  de  M.  I'Abbe 
de  Saint-Pierre ;  avec  Lettre  a  M.  de  Bastide,  et  Jugement  sur  la  Paix  Per- 
petuelle :  (Euvres,  (edit.  1788-93,)  Tom.  VII.  pp.  339-418. 

2  Observations  sur  le  Projet  d'une  Paix  Perpetuelle  de  M.  I'Abbe  de 
Saint-Pierre:  Opera,  ed.  Dutens,  (Geneva;,  17(38,)  Tom.  V.  p.  56. 


300   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN-  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

At  Gottingeu,  reuowned  for  its  University,  the  ques- 
tion was  opened,  at  the  close  of  the  Seven  Years'  War 
in  1763,  in  a  work  by  Totze,  whose  character  appears  in 
its  title,  "  Permanent  and  Universal  Peace  in  Europe, 
according  to  the  Plan  of  Henry  IV."  ^  At  Leipsic,  also 
the  seat  of  a  University,  the  subject  was  presented  in 
1767  by  Lilienfeld,  in  a  treatise  of  much  completeness, 
under  the  name  of  "New  Constitution  for  States,"^ 
where,  after  exposing  the  wretched  chances  of  the  bat- 
tle-field and  the  expense  of  armaments  in  time  of  peace, 
the  author  urges  submission  to  Arbitrators,  unless  a  Su- 
preme Tribunal  is  established  to  administer  Interna- 
tional Law  and  to  judge  between  nations.  In  1804  ap- 
peared another  work,  of  singular  clearness  and  force,  by 
Karl  Schwab,  entitled  "  Of  Unavoidable  Injustice,"  ^ 
where  the  author  describes  what  he  calls  the  Universal 
State,  in  which  nations  will  be  to  each  other  as  citizens 
in  the  Municipal  State.  He  is  not  so  visionary  as  to 
imagine  that  justice  will  always  be  inviolate  between 
nations  in  the  Universal  State,  for  it  is  not  always  so 
between  citizens  in  the  IMunicipal  State ;  but  he  con- 
fidently looks  to  the  establishment  between  nations  of 
the  rules  which  now  subsist  between  citizens,  whose  dif- 
ferences are  settled  peaceably  by  judicial  tribunals. 

These  works,  justly  important  for  the  liglit  they  shed, 
and  as  expressions  of  a  growing  sentiment,  are  eclipsed 
in  the  contributions  of  the  great  teacher,  Immanuel 
Kant,  who,  after  his  fame  in  philosophy  was  established, 
so  that  his  works  were  discussed  and  expounded  not 
only  throughout  Germany,  but  in  other  lands,  in  1795 

1  Der  ewige  und  allgemeiae  Friede  in  Europa,  nach  dem  Entwurf  Hein- 
richs  IV. 

2  Neues  Staatsgebaude. 

8  Ueber  das  unvermeidliche  Uurecht. 


AUTHORITY   OF   THE   GERMAN   MIND.  301 

gave  to  the  world  a  treatise  entitled  "  On  Perpetual 
Peace,"  ^  which  was  promptly  translated  into  French, 
Danish,  and  Dutch.  Two  other  works  by  him  attest 
his  interest  in  the  subject,  the  first  entitled  "  Idea  for 
a  General  History  in  a  Cosmopolitan  View,"  ^  and  the 
other,  "  Metaphysical  Elements  of  Jurisprudence."  ^ 
His  grasp  was  complete.  A  treaty  of  peace  which 
tacitly  acknowledges  the  right  to  wage  war,  as  all  trea- 
ties now  do,  according  to  Kant  is  nothing  more  than  a 
truce.  An  individual  war  may  be .  ended,  but  not  the 
state  of  war  ;  so  that,  even  after  cessation  of  hostilities, 
there  will  be  constant  fear  of  their  renewal,  while  the 
armaments  known  as  Peace  Establishments  will  tend  to 
provoke  them.  All  this  should  be  changed,  and  nations 
should  form  one  comprehensive  Federation,  which,  re- 
ceiving other  nations  within  its  fold,  will  at  last  em- 
brace the  civilized  world  ;  and  such,  in  the  judgment  of 
Kant,  was  the  irresistible  tendency  of  nations.  To  a 
French  poet  we  are  indebted  for  the  most  suggestive 
term,  "  United  States  of  Europe " ;  ^  but  this  is  noth- 
ing but  the  Federation  of  the  illustrious  German  phi- 
losopher. Nor  was  Kant  alone  among  his  great  contem- 
poraries. That  other  philosopher,  Fichte,  whose  name 
at  the  time  was  second  only  to  that  of  Kant,  in  his 
"  Groundwork  of  the  Law  of  Nature,"  ^  published  in 
1796,  also  urges  a  Federation  of  Nations,  with  an  es- 
tablished tribunal  to  which  all  should  submit.  IMuch 
better  for  civilization,  had  the  King  at  Konigsberg,  in- 

1  Zum  ewigen  Frieden. 

2  Idee  zu  einer  allgenieineii  Geschichte  in  weltbiirgerlicher  Absicht. 
8  Metaphysische  Anfangsgiiinde  der  Rechtslehre. 

*  Victor  Hugo,  Discours  d'Ouverture  du  Coiigres  de  la  Paix  a  Paris,  21 
Aout  1849  :  Treize  Discours,  (Paris,  1851,)  p.  19. 
5  Grundlage  des  Naturrechts. 


302   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

stead  of  grasping  the  sword,  hearkened  to  the  voice  of 
Kant,  renewed  liy  Fichte. 

With  these  German  oracles  in  its  support,  the  cause 
cannot  be  put  aside.  Even  in  the  midst  of  war,  Phi- 
losophy will  be  heard,  especially  when  she  speaks  words 
of  concurring  authority  that  touch  a  chord  in  every 
heart.  Leibnitz,  Kant,  and  Fichte,  a  mighty  triumvi- 
rate of  intelligence,  unite  in  testimony.  As  Germany, 
beyond  any  other  nation,  has  given  to  the  idea  of  Or- 
ganized Peace  the  warrant  of  philosophy,  it  only  re- 
mains now  that  she  should  insist  upon  its  practical  ap- 
plication. There  should  be  no  delay.  Long  enough  has 
mankind  waited  while  the  river  of  blood  flowed  on. 

UPRISING   OF  WORKING-MEN. 

The  working-men  of  Europe,  not  excepting  Germany, 
respond  to  the  mandate  of  Philosophy,  and  insist  that 
the  War  System  shall  be  abolished.  At  public  meet- 
ings, in  formal  resolutions  and  addresses,  they  have  de- 
clared war  against  War,  and  they  will  not  be  silenced. 
This  is  not  the  first  time  that  working-men  have  made 
themselves  heard  for  international  justice.  I  cannot 
forget,  that,  while  Slavery  was  waging  war  against  our 
nation,  the  working-men  of  Belgium  in  public  meeting 
protested  against  that  precocious  Proclamation  of  Bel- 
ligerent Rights  by  which  the  Britisli  Government  gave 
such  impulse  to  the  Eebelliou ;  and  now,  in  the  same 
spirit,  and  for  the  sake  of  true  peace,  they  declare  them- 
selves against  that  War  System  by  which  the  peace  of 
nations  is  placed  in  such  constant  jeopardy.  They  are 
right ;  for  nobody  suffers  in  war  as  the  working-man, 
whether  in  property  or  in  person.      For  him  war  is  a 


UPRISING   OF   WORKING-MEN.  303 

ravening  monster,  devouring  his  substance,  and  chang- 
ing him  from  citizen  to  military  serf.  As  victim  of  the 
War  System  he  is  entitled  to  be  heard. 

The  working-men  of  different  countries  have  been  or- 
ganizing in  societies,  of  which  it  is  difficult  at  present 
to  tell  the  number  and  extent.  It  is  known  that  these 
societies  exist  in  Germany,  France,  Spain,  Italy,  and 
England,  as  well  as  in  our  own  country,  and  that  they 
have  in  some  measure  an  international  character.  In 
France,  before  the  war,  there  were  433,785  men  in  the 
organization,  and  in  Germany  150,000.^  Yet  this  is  but 
the  beoinnimr. 

At  the  menace  of  the  present  war,  all  these  societies 
were  roused.  The  society  known  as  the  International 
Working-Men's  Association,  by  their  General  Council, 
issued  an  address,  dated  at  London,  protesting  against  it 
as  a  war  of  dynasties,  denouncing  Louis  ISTapoleon  as  an 
enemy  of  the  laboring  classes,  and  declaring  "the  war- 
plot  of  July,  1870,  but  an  amended  edition  of  the  coup 
d'etat  of  December,  1851."  The  address  then  testifies 
generally  against  war,  saying, — 

"  They  feel  deeply  convinced,  that,  whatever  turn  the  im- 
pending horrid  war  may  take,  the  alliance  of  the  working  class- 
es of  all  countries  will  ultimately  kill  war.''  ^ 

At  the  same  time  the  Paris  branch  of  the  Interna- 
tional Association  put  forth  a  manifesto  addressed  ■"  To 
the  Working-Men  of  all  Countries,"  from  which  I  take 
these  passages :  — 

1  lia  Solidarite,  25  Juin  1870,  — as  cited  by  Testu,  L' Internationale; 
(7eme  edit.,)  p.  275. 

2  The  General  Council  of  the  International  Working-Men's  Association 
on  the  War,  (London,  Jul}-  23,  1870,)  p.  iv. 


304   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

"  Once  more,  under  the  pretext  of  European  equilibrium, 
of  national  honor,  political  ambitions  menace  the  peace  of  the 
world. 

"  French,  German,  Spanish  working-men !  let  our  voices 
unite  in  a  cry  of   reprobation  against  war ! 

"  War  for  a  question  of  preponderance,  or  of  dynasty,  can, 
in  the  eyes  of  working-men,  be  nothing  but  a  criminal  absur- 
dity. 

"  In  response  to  the  warlike  acclamations  of  those  who  ex- 
onerate themselves  from  the  impost  of  blood,  or  who  find  in 
public  misfortunes  a  source  of  new  speculations,  we  protest, 
—  we  who  wish  for  peace,  work,  and  liberty. 

"  Brothers  of  Germany  !  .  .  .  .  our  divisions  would  only 
bring  about  the  complete  triumph  of  despotism  on  both  sides  of 
the  Rhine. 

"  Working-men  of  all  countries  !  whatever  may  be  the  re- 
sult of  our  common  eftbrts,  we,  members  of  the  International 
Association  of  Working -Men,  who  know  no  frontiers,  we  send 
you,  as  a  pledge  of  indissoluble  solidarity,  the  good  wishes 
and  the  salutations  of  the  working-men  of  France."  ^ 

To  this  appeal,  so  full  of  truth,  touching  to  the  quick 
the  pretence  of  balance  of  power  and  questions  of  dy- 
nasty as  excuses  for  war,  and  then  rising  to  "  a  cry  of 
reprobation  against  war,"  the  Berlin  branch  of  the  In- 
ternational Association  replied :  — 

"We  join  with  heart  and  hand  in  your  protestation 

Solemnly  we  promise  you  that  neither  the  noise  of  drums  nor 
the  thunder  of  cannon,  neither  victory  nor  defeat,  shall  turn 
us  aside  from  our  work  for  the  union  of  the  proletaries  of 
all  countries."^ 

1  Testu,  L'lnternationale,  pp.  279-80.  The  General  Council  of  tlie  In- 
ternational Working-Men's  Association  on  the  War,  p.  ii. 

2  Testu,  pp.  284-85.    The  General  CouncU,  etc.,  p.  ill. 


UPEISING   OF   WORKING-MEN.  305 

Then  came  a  meeting  of  delegates  at  Chemnitz,  in 
Saxony,  representing  fifty  thousand  Saxon  working-men, 
which  put  forth  the  following  hardy  words :  — 

"  We  are  happy  to  grasp  the  fraternal  hand  stretched  out 

to  us  by  the  working-men  of  France Mindful  of  the 

watchword  of  the  International  Working-Men's  Association, 
Proletarians  of  all  countries,  unite !  we  shall  never  forget 
that  the  working-men  of  all  countries  are  our  friends,  and 
the  despots  of  all  countries   our  enemies."  ^ 

Next  followed,  at  Brunswick,  in  Germany,  on  the  16th 
of  July,  —  the  very  day  after  the  reading  of  the  war  doc- 
ument at  the  French  tribune,  and  the  "  light  heart "  of 
the  Prime-Minister,  —  a  mass  meetinij  of  the  workinij- 
men  there,  which  declared  its  full  concurrence  with  the 
manifesto  of  the  Paris  branch,  spurned  the  idea  of  na- 
tional antagonism  to  France,  and  wound  up  with  these 
solid  words :  — 

"We  are  enemies  of  all  wars,  but  above  all  of  dynastic 
wars."  ^ 

The  whole  subject  is  presented  with  admirable  power 
in  an  address  from  the  Workmen's  Peace  Committee  to 
the  Working-Men  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  duly 
signed  by  their  officers.  Here  are  some  of  its  sen- 
tences :  — 

"Without  us  war  must  cease;  for  without  us  standing 
armies  could  not  exist.  It  is  out  of  our  class  chiefly  that 
they  are  formed." 

"  We  would  call  upon  and  implore  the  peoples  of  France 
and  Germany,  in  order  to  enable  their  own  riders  to  realize 

1  The  General  Council  of  the  International  Working-Men's  Association 
on  the  War,  p.  iii. 
a  Ibid. 


306   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FKANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

these  their  peace-loving  professions,  to  insist  upon  the  aboli- 
tion of  standing  armies,  as  both  the  source  and  means  of 
war,  nurseries  of  vice,  and  locust-consumers  of  the  fruits  of 
useful  industry." 

"What  we  claim  and  demand  —  what  we  would  implore 
the  peoples  of  Europe  to  do,  without  regard  to  Courts,  Cabi- 
nets, or  Dynasties  —  is  to  insist  upon  Arbitration  as  a  substi- 
tute for  war,  with  peace  and  its  blessings  for  them,  for  us,  for 
the  whole  civilized  world."  ^ 

The  working-men  of  England  responded  to  this  ap- 
peal, in  a  crowded  meeting  at  St.  James's  Hall,  London, 
where  all  the  speakers  were  working-men  and  represen- 
tatives of  the  various  handicrafts,  except  the  Chairman, 
whose  strong  words  found  echo  in  the  intense  convic- 
tions of  the  large  assemblage  :  — 

"  One  object  of  this  meeting  is  to  make  the  horror  uni- 
versally inspired  by  the  enormous  and  cruel  carnage  of  this 
terrible  war  the  groundwork  for  appealing  to  the  working 
classes  and  the  people  of  all  other  European  countries  to  join 
in  protesting  against  war  altogether,  [prolonged  cheers,^  as  the 
shame  of  Christendom,  and  direst  curse  and  scourge  of  the 
human  race.  Let  the  will  of  the  people  sweep  away  war, 
which  cannot  be  waged  without  them.  ['Hear!']  Away 
with  enormous  standing  armies,  ['Hear  ! ']  the  nurseries  and 
instruments  of  war,  —  nurseries,  too,  of  vice,  and  crushing 
burdens  upon  national  Avealth  and  prosperity  !  Let  there  go 
forth  from  the  people  of  this  and  other  lands  one  universal 
and  all-overpowering  cry  and  demand  for  the  blessings  of 
peace  !  "  ^ 

At  this  meeting  the  Honorary  Secretary  of  the  "Work- 
men's Peace  Committee,  after  announcing  that  the  work- 

1  Herald  of  Peace  for  1870,  September  1st,  pp.  101  -  2. 

2  Ibid.,  October  1st,  p.  125. 


ABOLITION   OF   THE   WAR   SYSTEM.  307 

ing-men  of  upwards  of  three  hundred  towns  had  given 
their  adliesion  to  the  platform  of  the  Committee,  thus 
showing  a  determination  to  abolish  war  altogether,  moved 
the  following  resolution,  which  was  adopted :  — 

"  That  war,  especially  with  the  present  many  fearful  contri- 
vances for  wholesale  carnage  and  destruction,  is  repugnant  to 
every  principle  of  reason,  humauity,  and  religion ;  and  this 
meeting  earnestly  invites  all  civilized  and  Christian  peoples 
to  insist  upon  the  abolition  of  standing  armies,  and  the  settle- 
ment by  arbitration  of  all  international  disputes."  ^ 

Thus  clearly  is  the  case  stated  by  the  Working-Men, 
now  beginning  to  be  heard;  and  the  testimony  is  rever- 
berated from  nation  to  nation.  They  cannot  be  silent 
hereafter.  I  confidently  look  to  them  for  important  co- 
operation in  this  great  work  of  redemption.  Could  my 
voice  reach  them  now,  wherever  they  may  be,  in  that 
honest  toil  which  is  the  appointed  lot  of  man,  it  would 
be  with  words  of  cheer  and  encouragement.  Let  them 
proceed  until  civilization  is  no  longer  darkened  by  war. 
In  this  way  will  they  become  not  only  saviours  to  their 
own  households,  but  benefactors  of  the  whole  Human 
Family. 

ABOLITION   OF  THE   WAR  SYSTEM. 

Such  is  the  statement,  with  its  many  proofs,  by  which 
war  is  exhibited  as  the  Duel  of  Nations,  being  the  Trial 
by  Battle  of  the  Dark  Ages.  You  have  seen  how  na- 
tions, under  existing  International  Law,  to  which  all  are 
parties,  refer  their  differences  to  this  insensate  arbitra- 
ment, —  and  then  how,  in  our  day  and  before  our  own 
eyes,  two  nations  eminent  in  civilization  have  furnished 

1  Herald  of  Peace  for  1870,  October  1st,  p.  125. 


308       THE   DUEL   BETWEEN    FKANCE  AND   GEKMANY. 

an  instance  of  this  incredible  folly,  waging  together  a 
world-convulsing,  soul-harrowing,  and  most  barbarous 
contest.  All  ask  how  long  the  direful  duel  will  be  con- 
tinued. Better  ask,  How  long  will  be  continued  that 
War  System  by  which  such  a  duel  is  authorized  and 
regulated  among  nations  ?  When  will  this  legalized, 
organized  crime  be  abolished  ?  When  at  last  will  it  be 
confessed  that  the  Law  of  Eight  is  the  same  for  nations 
as  for  individuals,  so  that,  if  Trial  by  Battle  be  impious 
for  individuals,  it  is  so  for  nations  likewise  ?  Against  it 
are  Eeason  and  Humanity,  pleading  as  never  before,  — 
Economy,  asking  for  mighty  help,  —  Peace,  with  softest 
voice  praying  for  safeguard,  —  and  then  the  authority  of 
Philosophy,  speaking  by  some  of  its  greatest  masters,  — 
all  reinforced  by  the  irrepressible,  irresistible  protest  of 
working-men  in  different  nations. 

Precedents  exist  for  the  abolition  of  this  duel,  so  com- 
pletely in  point,  that,  according  to  the  lawyer's  phrase, 
they  "  go  on  all  fours "  with  the  new  case.  Two  of 
these  have  been  already  mentioned :  first,  when,  at  the 
Diet  of  Worms,  in  1495,  the  Emperor  Maximilian  pro- 
claimed a  permanent  peace  throughout  Germany,  and 
abolished  the  "  liberty  "  of  Private  War ;  and,  secondly, 
when,  in  1815,  the  German  Principalities  stipulated 
"  under  no  pretext  to  make  war  upon  one  another,  or 
to  pursue  their  differences  by  force  of  arms."  ^  But 
first  in  time,  and  perhaps  in  importance,  was  the  great 
Ordinance  of  St.  Louis,  King  of  France,  promulgated  at 
a  Parliament  in  1260,  where  he  says :  "  We  forbid  hat- 
tics  [i.  e.  Trials  by  Battle]  to  all  persons  throughout  our 
dominions,  ....  atul  in  2^lace  of  battles  we  put  proofs 
by  witnesses And  these  Battles  we  abolish  in 

I  See,  ante^  p.  247. 


THE   WORLD   A   GLADIATORIAL   AMPHITHEATRE.  309 

OUR  Dominions  forever."  ^  These  at  the  time  were 
great  words,  and  they  continue  great  as  an  example. 
Their  acceptance  by  any  two  nations  would  begin  the 
work  of  abolition,  which  would  be  completed  on  their 
adoption  by  a  Congress  of  Nations,  taking  from  war  its 
existing  sanction. 

THE  WORLD  A  GLADIATORIAL  AMPHITHEATRE. 

The  growing  tendencies  of  mankind  have  been  quick- 
ened by  the  character  of  the  present  war,  and  the  unex- 
ampled publicity  with  which  it  has  been  waged.  Never 
before  were  all  nations,  even  those  separated  by  great 
spaces,  whether  of  land  or  ocean,  the  daily  and  excited 
spectators  of  the  combat.  The  vast  amphitheatre  within 
which  the  battle  is  fought,  with  the  whole  heavens  for 
its  roof,  is  coextensive  with  civilization  itself  The 
scene  in  that  great  Flavian  Amphitheatre,  the  famous 
Colosseum,  is  a  faint  type  of  what  we  are  witnessing ; 
but  that  is  not  without  its  lesson.  Bloody  games,  where 
human  beings  contended  with  lions  and  tigers,  imported 
for  the  purpose,  or  wdth  each  other,  constituted  an  insti- 
tution of  ancient  Eome,  only  mildly  rebuked  by  Cicero,^ 
and  adopted  even  by  Titus,  in  that  short  reign  so  much 
praised  as  unspotted  by  the  blood  of  the  citizen.^     One 

1  "  Nous  deffendons  a  tons  les  batailles  par  tout  nostre  demengne,  .... 
et  en  lieu  des  batailles  nous  meton  priieves  de  tesmoins Et  ces  ba- 
tailles nous  ostons  en  nostre  demaigue  a  toujours."  —  Recueil  General  des 
Anciennes  Lois  Fran^aises,  ■par  Jourdan,  etc.,  (Paris,  1822-33, )  Tom.  I. 
pp.  283-90. 

2  "Crudele  gladiatorum  spectaculum  et  inhumanum  nonnullis  videri 
solet :  et  baud  scio  an  ita  sit,  ut  nunc  fit. "  —  Tusculance  Qucestiones,  Lib. 
IL  Cap.  XVIL  41. 

3  Suetonius:  Titus,  Cap.  IX.  Merivale,  History  of  the  Romans  under 
the  Empire,  (London,  1862,)  Ch.  LX.,  Vol.  VII.  p.  56. 


310      THE  DUEL   BETWEEN   FRANCE   AND   GERMANY. 

hundred  thousand  spectators  looked  on,  while  gladiators 
from  Germany  and  Gaul  joined  in  ferocious  combat;  and 
then,  as  blood  began  to  How,  and  victim  after  victim 
sank  upon  the  sand,  the  people  caught  the  fierce  conta- 
gion. A  common  ferocity  ruled  the  scene.  As  Chris- 
tianity prevailed,  the  incongruity  of  such  an  institution 
was  widely  felt ;  but  still  it  continued.  At  last  an 
Eastern  monk,  moved  only  by  report,  journeyed  a  long 
way  to  protest  against  the  impiety.  With  noble  enthu- 
siasm he  leaped  into  the  arena,  where  the  battle  raged, 
in  order  to  separate  the  combatants.  He  was  unsuc- 
cessful, and  paid  with  life  the  jjenalty  of  his  humanity.^ 
But  the  martyr  triumphed  where  the  monk  had  failed. 
Shortly  afterwards,  the  Emperor  Honorius,  by  solemn 
decree,  put  an  end  to  this  horrid  custom.  "  The  first 
Christian  Emperor,"  says  Gibbon,  "may  claim  the  honor 
of  the  first  edict  which  condemned  the  art  and  amuse- 
ment of  shedding  human  blood."  ^  Our  amphitheatre  is 
larger  than  that  of  Eome ;  but  it  witnesses  scenes  not 
less  revolting  ;  nor  need  any  monk  journey  a  long  way 
to  protest  against  the  impiety.  That  protest  can  be  ut- 
tered by  every  one  here  at  home.  We  are  all  specta- 
tors ;  and  since  by  human  craft  the  civilized  world  has 
become  one  mighty  Colosseum,  with  place  for  every- 
body, may  we  not  insist  that  the  bloody  games  by  which 
it  is  yet  polluted  shall  cease,  and  that,  instead  of  mu- 
tual-murderin<i;  jiladiators  filling  the  near-brought  scene 
with  death,  there  shall  be  a  harmonious  people,  of  dif- 
ferent nations,  but  one  fellowship,  vying  together  only 
in  works  of  industry  and  art,  inspired  and  exalted  by  a 
divine  beneficence  ? 

1  St.  Telemaclius,  A.  D.  404.  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  ed.  Milmati,  (London,  1846,)  Ch.  XXX.,  Vol.  IIL  p.  70.  Smith, 
Diet.  Gr.  and  Roin.  Bio'.j.  and  Myth.,  art.  Telemachus. 

2  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  %ibi  supra. 


THE  WORLD   A   GLADIATORIAL   AMPHITHEATRE.      311 

In  presenting  this  picture  I  exaggerate  nothing.  How 
feeble  is  language  to  depict  the  stupendous  barbarism  ! 
How  small  by  its  side  the  bloody  games  which  degrad- 
ed ancient  Eome  !  How  pygmy  the  one,  how  colossal 
the  other !  Would  you  know  how  the  combat  is  con- 
ducted? Here  is  the  briefest  picture  of  the  arena  by 
a  looker-on :  — 

"  Let  your  readers  fancy  masses  of  colored  rags  glued  to- 
gether with  blood  and  brains,  and  pinned  into  strange  shapes 
by  fragments  of  bones, — let  them  conceive  men's  bodies 
without  heads,  legs  without  bodies,  heaps  of  human  entrails 
attached  to  red  and  blue  cloth,  and  disembowelled  corpses 
in  uniform,  bodies  lying  about  in  all  attitudes,  with  skulls 
shattered,  faces  blown  off,  hips  smashed,  bones,  flesh,  and 
gay  clothing  all  pounded  together  as  if  brayed  in  a  mortar 
extending  for  miles,  not  very  thick  in  any  one  place,  but  re- 
curring perpetually  for  weary  hours,  —  and  then  they  cannot, 
with  the  most  vivid  imagination,  come  up  to  the  sickening 
reality  of  that  butchery."  ^ 

Such  a  sight  would  have  shocked  the  Heathen  of 
Eome.  They  could  not  have  looked  on  while  the  brave 
gladiator  was  thus  changed  into  a  bloody  hash ;  least  of 
all  could  they  have  seen  the  work  of  slaughter  done  by 
machinery.  Nor  could  any  German  gladiator  have 
written  the  letter  I  proceed  to  quote  from  a  German 
soldier : — 

"  I  do  not  know  how  it  is,  but  one  wholly  forgets  the  dan- 
ger one  is  in,  and  thinks  only  of  the  effect  of  one's  own  bul- 
lets, rejoicing  like  a  child  at  the  sight  of  the  enemy  falling 
like  skittles,  and  having  scarcely  a  compassionate  glance  to 
spare  for  the  comrade  falling  at  one's  side.  One  ceases  to  be 
a  human  being,  and  turns  into  a  brute,  a  complete  brute." 

1  Scene  after  tlie  Battle  of  Sedan :  Herald  of  Peace  for  1870,  October  1st, 
p.  VAl. 


312   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

Plain  confession  1  And  yet  the  duel  continues.  Nor 
is  there  death  for  the  armed  man  only.  Fire  mingles 
with  slaughter,  as  at  Bazeilles.  Women  and  children 
are  roasted  alive,  filling  the  air  with  suffocating  odor, 
while  the  maddened  combatants  rage  against  each  other. 
All  this  is  but  part  of  the  prolonged  and  various  spec- 
tacle, where  the  scene  shifts  only  for  some  other  horror. 
Meanwhile  the  sovereigns  of  the  world  sit  in  their  boxes, 
and  the  people  everywhere  occupy  the  benches. 

PERIL  FROM   THE   WAR   SYSTEM. 

The  duel  now  pending  teaches  the  peril  from  contin- 
uance of  the  present  system.  If  France  and  Germany 
can  be  brought  so  suddenly  into  collision  on  a  mere 
pretext,  what  two  nations  are  entirely  safe  ?  Where  is 
the  talisman  for  their  protection  ?  None,  surely,  ex- 
cept Disarmament,  which,  therefore,  for  the  interest 
of  all  nations,  should  be  commenced.  Prussia  is  now 
an  acknowledged  military  power,  armed  "in  complete 
steel,"  —  but  at  what  cost  to  her  people,  if  not  to  man- 
kind !  Military  citizenship,  according  to  Prussian  rule, 
is  military  serfdom,  and  on  this  is  elevated  a  milita- 
ry despotism  of  singular  grasp  and  power,  operating 
throughout  the  whole  nation,  like  martial  law  or  a 
state  of  siege.  In  Prussia  the  law  tyrannically  seizes 
every  youth  of  twenty,  and,  no  matter  what  his  calling 
or  profession,  compels  him  to  military  service  for  seven 
years.  Three  years  he  spends  in  active  service  in  the 
regular  army,  where  his  life  is  surrendered  to  the  trade 
of  blood  ;  then  for  four  years  he  passes  to  the  reserve, 
where  he  is  subject  to  periodic  military  drills ;  then  for 
five  years  longer  to  the  Lanclwchr,  or  militia,  with  lia- 


PEEIL   FROM   THE   WAR   SYSTEM.  313 

bility  to  service  in  the  Landsturm,  in  case  of  war,  until 
sixty.  Wherever  he  may  be  in  foreign  lands,  his  mili- 
tary duty  is  paramount. 

But  if  this  system  be  good  for  Prussia,  then  must  it 
be  equally  good  for  other  nations.  If  this  economical 
government,  with  education  for  all,  subordinates  the 
business  of  life  to  the  military  drill,  other  nations  will 
find  too  much  reason  for  doing  the  same.  Unless  the 
War  System  is  abandoned,  all  must  follow  the  success- 
ful example,  while  the  civilized  world  becomes  a  busy 
camp,  with  every  citizen  a  soldier,  and  with  all  sounds 
swallowed  up  in  the  tocsin  of  war.  Where,  then,  are 
the  people  ?  Where  are  popular  rights  ?  Montesquieu 
has  not  hesitated  to  declare  that  the  peril  to  free  gov- 
ernments proceeds  from  armies,  and  that  this  peril  is 
not  corrected  even  by  making  them  depend  directly  on 
the  legislative  power.  This  is  not  enough.  The  ar- 
mies must  be  reduced  in  number  and  force.^  Among 
his  papers,  found  since  his  death,  is  the  prediction, 
"  France  will  be  ruined  by  the  military."  ^  It  is  the 
privilege  of  genius  like  that  of  Montesquieu  to  lift 
the  curtain  of  the  future ;  but  even  he  did  not  see  the 
vastness  of  suffering  in  store  for  his  country  through 
those  armies  against  which  he  warned.  For  years  the 
engine  of  despotism  at  home,  they  became  the  sudden 
instrument  of  war  abroad.  Without  them  Louis  Napo- 
leon could  not  have  made  himself  Emperor,  nor  could 
he  have  hurried  France  into  the  present  duel.  If  need- 
ed in  other  days,  they  are  not  needed  now.  The  War 
System,  always  barbarous,  is  an  anachronism,  full  of 
peril  both  to  peace  and  liberal  institutions. 

1  De  I'Esprit  des  Lois,  Liv.  XI.  Ch.  6. 

2  "La  France  se  perdra  par  les  gens  de  guerre."  —  Pensees  Diverses,— 
Varietes :  CEuvres  Melees  et  Posthumes,  ( Paris,  1807,  Didot,)  Tom.  IL  p.  1-38. 


314   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 
PEACE. 

An  army  is  a  despotism ;  military  service  is  a  bond- 
age ;  nor  can  the  passion  tor  arms  be  reconciled  with  a 
true  civilization.  The  present  failure  to  acknowledge 
this  incompatibility  is  only  another  illustration  how  the 
clear  light  of  truth  is  discolored  and  refracted  by  an 
atmosphere  where  the  cloud  of  war  still  lingers.  Soon 
must  this  cloud  be  dispersed.  From  war  to  peace  is  a 
change  indeed;  but  Nature  herself  testifies  to  change. 
Sirius,  brightest  of  all  the  fixed  stars,  was  noted  by 
Ptolemy  as  of  reddish  hue/  and  by  Seneca  as  redder 
than  Mars ;  ^  but  since  then  it  has  changed  to  white. 
To  the  morose  remark,  wliether  in  the  philosophy  of 
Hobbes  or  the  apology  of  the  soldier,  that  man  is  a 
fighting  animal  and  that  war  is  natural,  I  reply,  —  Nat- 
ural for  savages  rejoicing  in  the  tattoo,  natural  for  bar- 
barians rejoicing  in  violence,  but  not  natural  for  man  in 
a  true  civilization,  which  I  insist  is  the  natural  state  to 
which  he  tends  by  a  sure  progression.  The  true  state 
of  Nature  is  not  war,  but  peace.  Not  only  every  war, 
but  every  recognition  of  war  as  the  mode  of  determining 
international  differences,  is  evidence  that  we  are  yet 
barbarians,  —  and  so  also  is  every  ambition  for  empire 
founded  on  force,  and  not  on  the  consent  of  the  peo- 
ple. A  ghastly,  bleeding,  human  head  was  discovered 
by  the  early  Eomans,  as  they  dug  the  foundations  of 
that  Capitol  which  finally  swayed  the  world.^  That 
ghastly,  bleeding,  human  head  is  the  fit  symbol  of  mil- 
itary power. 

1  Almagest,  ed.  et  tr.  Halma,  (Paris,  1816-20,)  Tom.  II.  pp.  72,  73. 

2  Naturales  Qucestioiies,  Lib.  I.  Cap.  1. 

'  Dionysius  Halicarnassensis,  Antiquitates   Romanse,   Lib.    IV.    Capp. 
59-61. 


PEACE.  315 

Let  the  War  System  be  abolished,  and,  in  the  glory 
of  this  consummation,  how  vulgar  all  that  conies  from 
battle !  By  the  side  of  this  serene,  beneficent  civiliza- 
tion, how  petty  in  its  pretensions  is  military  power ! 
how  vain  its  triumphs !  At  this  moment  the  great 
general  who  has  organized  victory  for  Germany  is 
veiled,  and  his  name  does  not  appear  even  in  the  mil- 
itary bulletins.  Thus  is  the  glory  of  arms  passing  from 
sight,  and  battle  losing  its  ancient  renown.  Peace  does 
not  arrest  the  mind  like  war.  It  does  not  glare  like 
battle.  Its  operations,  like  those  of  Nature,  are  gentle, 
yet  sure.  It  is  not  the  tumbling,  sounding  cataract,  but 
the  tranquil,  fruitful  river.  Even  the  majestic  Niagara, 
with  thunder  like  war,  cannot  compare  with  the  peace- 
ful plains  of  water  which  it  divides.  How  easy  to  see 
that  the  repose  of  nations,  like  the  repose  of  Nature,  is 
the  great  parent  of  the  most  precious  bounties  vouch- 
safed by  Providence  !     Add  Peace  to  Liberty,  — 

"And  with  that  virtue,  every  virtue  live.s." 

As  peace  is  assured,  the  traditional  sensibilities  of 
nations  will  disappear.  Their  frontiers  will  no  longer 
frown  with  hostile  cannon,  nor  will  their  people  be 
nursed  to  hate  each  other.  By  ties  of  constant  fellow- 
ship will  they  be  interwoven  together,  no  sudden  trum- 
pet waking  to  arms,  no  sharp  summons  disturbing  the 
uniform  repose.  By  steam,  by  telegraph,  by  the  press, 
have  they  already  conquered  time,  subdued  space, — 
thus  breaking  down  old  walls  of  partition  by  which 
they  have  been  separated.  Ancient  example  loses  its 
influence.  The  prejudices  of  another  generation  are 
removed,  and  the  old  geography  gives  place  to  a  new. 
The  heavens  are  divided  into  constellations,  with  names 
from  beasts,  or  from  some  form  of  brute  force,  —  as  Leo, 


316   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

Taurus,  Sagittarius,  and  Orion  with  his  club;  but  this 
is  human  device.  By  similar  scheme  is  the  earth  di- 
vided. But  in  the  sight  of  God  there  is  one  Human 
Family  without  division,  Avhere  all  are  equal  in  rights ; 
and  the  attempt  to  set  up  distinctions,  keeping  men 
asunder,  or  in  barbarous  groups,  is  a  practical  denial  of 
that  great  truth,  religious  and  political,  the  Brotherhood 
of  ]\Ian.  The  Christian's  Fatherland  is  not  merely  the 
nation  in  which  he  was  born,  but  the  whole  earth  ap- 
pointed by  the  Heavenly  Father  for  his  home.  In  this 
Fatherland  there  can  be  no  place  for  unfriendly  boun- 
daries set  up  by  any,  —  least  of  all,  place  for  the  War 
System,  making  nations  as  hostile  camps. 

At  Lassa,  in  Thibet,  there  is  a  venerable  stone  in 
memory  of  the  treaty  between  the  courts  of  Thibet  and 
China,  as  long  ago  as  821,  bearing  an  inscription  worthy 
of  a  true  civilization.  From  Eastern  story  learn  now 
the  beauty  of  peace.  After  the  titles  of  the  two  august 
sovereigns,  the  monument  proceeds :  "  These  two  wise, 
holy,  spiritual,  and  accomplished  princes,  foreseeing  the 
changes  hidden  in  the  most  distant  futurity,  touched 
with  sentiments  of  compassion  towards  their  people, 
and  not  knowing,  in  their  beneficent  protection,  any 
difference  between  their  subjects  and  strangers,  have, 
after  mature  reflection  and  by  mutual  consent,  resolved 
to  give  peace  to  their  people In  perfect  har- 
mony with  each  other,  they  will  henceforth  be  good 
neighbors,  and  will  do  their  utmost  to  draw  still  closer 
the  bonds  of  union  and  friendship.  Henceforward  the 
two  empires  of  Han  (China)  and  Pho  (Thibet)  shall 
have  fixed  boundaries In  preserving  these  lim- 
its, the  respective  parties  shall  not  endeavor  to  injure 
each  other;  they  shall  nut  attack  each  other  in  arms, 


THE   REPUBLIC.  317 

or  make  any  more  incursions  beyond  the  frontiers  now 
determined."  Then  declaring  that  the  two  "  must  recip- 
rocally exalt  their  virtues  and  banish  forever  all  mis- 
trust between  them,  that  travellers  may  be  without  un- 
easiness, that  the  inhabitants  of  the  villages  and  iields 
may  live  at  peace,  and  that  nothing  may  happen  to 
cause  a  misunderstanding,"  the  inscription  announces, 
in  terms  doubtless  Oriental :  "  This  benefit  will  be  ex- 
tended to  future  generations,  and  the  voice  of  love  (tow- 
ards its  authors)  will  be  heard  wherever  the  splendor  of 
the  sun  and  the  moon  is  seen.  The  Pho  will  be  tran- 
quil in  their  kingdom,  and  the  Han  will  be  joyful  in 
their  empire."  ^  Such  is  the  benediction  which  from 
early  times  has  spoken  from  one  of  the  monuments 
erected  by  the  god  Terminus.  Call  it  Oriental ;  would 
it  were  universal !  While  recognizing  a  frontier,  there 
is  equal  recognition  of  peace  as  the  rule  of  international 
life. 

THE   REPUBLIC. 

In  the  abolition  of  the  War  System  the  will  of  the 
people  must  become  all-powerful,  exalting  the  Eepublic 
to  its  just  place  as  the  natural  expression  of  citizenship. 
Napoleon  has  been  credited  with  the  utterance  at  St. 
Helena  of  the  prophecy,  that  "  in  fifty  years  Europe 
would  be  Eepublican  or  Cossack."  ^     Evidently  Europe 

1  Travels  of  the  Russian  Mission  through  Mongolia  to  China,  and  Resi- 
dence in  Peking,  in  1820-21,  by  George  Timkowski,  Vol.  I.  pp.  460-64. 

2  See  the  New  York  Times  of  August  11,  1870,  where  the  reputed 
prophecy  is  cited  in  these  terms,  in  a  letter  of  the  27th  July  from  the  Lon- 
don correspondent  of  that  journal,  with  remarks  indicating  an  expectation 
of  its  fulfilment  in  the  results  of  the  present  war.  This  famous  saying  has 
been  variously  represented ;  but  the  following  are  its  original  terms,  as  re- 
corded at  the  time  by  Las  Cases,  to  whom  it  was  addressed  in  conversation, 


318   THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY. 

will  not  be  Cossack,  unless  the  Cossack  is  already 
changed  to  Republican,  —  as  well  may  be,  when  it  is 
known,  that,  since  the  great  act  of  Enfranchisement,  in 
February,  1861,  by  which  twenty-three  millions  of  serfs 
were  raised  to  citizenship,  with  the  right  to  vote,  fifteen 
thousand  three  hundred  and  lifty  public  schools  have 
been  opened  in  Eussia.  A  better  than  Napoleon,  who 
saw  mankind  with  truer  insight,  Lafayette,  has  recorded 
a  clearer  prophecy.  At  the  foundation  of  the  monu- 
ment on  Bunker  Hill,  on  the  semi-centennial  anniver- 
sary of  the  battle,  17th  June,  1825,  our  much-honored 
national  "uest  "ave  this  toast :  "  Bunker  Hill,  and  the 
holy  resistance  to  oppression,  which  has  already  en- 
franchised the  American  hemisphere.  The  next  half- 
century  Jubilee's  toast  shall  be,  —  To  Enfranchised 
Europe."  ^  The  close  of  that  half-century,  already  so 
prolific,  is  at  hand.  Shall  it  behold  the  great  Jubilee 
with  all  its  vastness  of  promise  accomplished  ?  En- 
franchised Europe,  foretold  by  Lafayette,  means  not 
only  the  Eepublic  for  all,  but  Peace  for  all ;  it  means 
the  United  States  of  Europe,  with  the  War  System 
abolished.  Against  that  little  faith  through  which  so 
much  fails  in  life,  I  declare  my  unalterable  conviction, 
that  "government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for 
the  people"  —  thus  simply  described  by  Abraham  Lin- 

and  as  authenticated  by  the  Commission  appointed  by  Louis  Napoleon  for 
the  collection  and  publication  of  the  matters  now  composing  the  magnifi- 
cent work  entitled  "  Correspondance  de  Napoleon  I"":  — 

"  Dans  I'etat  actuel  des  choses,  avant  dix  an.t,  toute  I'Europe  pent  itre 
cosaque,  ou  toute  en  republique."  —  Las  Cases,  Memorial  de  Sainte-IIe- 
lene,  (Reimpression  de  1823  et  1824,)  Tom.  IIL  p.  Ill, —Journal,  18  Avril 
1816.  Correspondance  de  Napoleon  J"",  (Paris,  1858-69,)  Tom.  XXXIL 
p.  326. 

1  Columbian  Ceutinel,  June  18,  1825. 


THE   REPUBLIC.  319 

coin  ^  —  is  a  necessity  of  civilization,  not  only  because 
of  that  republican  equality  without  distinction  of  birth 
which  it  establishes,  but  for  its  assurance  of  permanent 
peace.  All  privilege  is  usurpation,  and,  like  Slavery,  a 
state  of  war,  relieved  only  by  truce,  to  be  broken  by 
the  people  in  their  might.  To  the  people  alone  can 
mankind  look  for  the  repose  of  nations ;  but  the  Eepub- 
lic  is  the  embodied  people.  All  hail  to  the  Eepublic, 
equal  guardian  of  all,  and  angel  of  peace  ! 

Our  own  part  is  simple.  It  is,  first,  to  keep  out  of 
war,  —  and,  next,  to  stand  firm  in  those  ideas  which  are 
the  life  of  the  Eepublic.  Peace  is  our  supreme  voca- 
tion. To  this  we  are  called.  By  this  we  succeed.  Our 
example  is  more  than  an  army.  But  not  on  this  ac- 
count can  we  be  indifferent,  when  Human  Eights  are 
assailed  or  republican  institutions  are  in  question.  Ga- 
ribaldi asks  for  a  "  word,"  ^  that  easiest  expression  of 
power.  Strange  will  it  be,  when  that  is  not  given.  To 
the  Eepublic,  and  to  all  struggling  for  Human  Eights,  I 
give  word,  with  heart  on  the  lips.  Word  and  heart  I 
give.  Nor  would  I  have  my  country  forget  at  any  time, 
in  the  discharge  of  its  transcendent  duties,  that,  since 
the  rule  of  conduct  and  of  honor  is  the  same  for  nations 
as  for  individuals,  the  greatest  nation  is  that  which  does 
most  for  Humanity. 

1  Address  at  the  Consecration  of  the  National  Cemetery  at  Gettysburg, 
November  19,  1863  :  McPherson's  Political  History  of  the  United  States 
during  the  Great  Rebellion,  p.  606. 

2  "  The  cause  of  Liberty  in  Italy  needs  the  vjord  of  the  United  States 
Government,  virhich  would  be  more  powerful  in  its  behalf  than  that  of  any 
other."  —  Message  to  Mr.  Sumner  from  Caprera,  May  24, 1869. 


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Extra  bindings  for  private  collectors  to  order  at  special  prices 


The  following  letter  from  the  distinguished  senior  Senator  from  Massa- 
chusetts well  expresses  the  value  of  these  books :  — 

SENATE    CHAMBER 

May  i6th,  1900. 
Messrs.  LEE    AND  SHEPARD: 

Gentlemen,  —  I  wish  to  express  my  hearty  satisfaction  with  the 
manner  in  which  you  have  done  your  part  in  the  new  edition  of  the 
works  of  Charles  Sumner.  The  book  is  a  great  credit  to  the  skill  of 
American  printers  and  binders,  and  to  the  enterprise  of  American  pub- 
lishers. I  know  of  no  American  book  which  will  compare,  for  beauty  of 
mechanism,  with  the  volumes,  which  are  in  your  best  binding. 

The  works  of  Charles  Sumner  are  much  more  than  examples  of  elo- 
quence, or  argument,  or  ample  illustrations  drawn  from  profound  learn- 
ing. They  contain,  very  largely,  the  history  of  the  most  important 
political  revolution  ever  brought  to  pass  by  a  free  people.  They  are 
also  the  record  of  a  noble  life.  Every  American  who  desires  to  take 
any  part  in  the  government  of  the  country  ought  to  possess  them  and 
make  himself  familiar  with  them. 
I  am, 

Faithfully  yours, 

GEO.  F.   HOAR. 


For  special  terms,  address  the  publishers, 

LEE   AND  SHEPARD 

202   DEVONSHIRE   STREET,   BOSTON 
321 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 
THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


RPR  9      193b 

>  ^    13391 


e  last  date 


f:^^ 


AUG  1  3  T9^i 

APR  2^  1956 
APR  2     HECD 

AUG  3     t'v'^o 


ld'-Ijrl    ««» 


1  P!  T'P't' 


llov  1  r , 

REC'D  LD-URU 
tfriiRL     MAYl6l98f 


AUG  1  7  1965 


Nw 

m 


19S5 


-^^  o    VM 


1970 


AM 
7-4 


4-9 

Form  L-9-15m-3,*S4 


AL  SEP  10 


JWisasn 


1971 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


■\  »  '«    '^^ 


AA    001  190  648   4 


